“Look dad, a giant beetle!”, “Mom, can I eat this berry?”, “What bird is singing?”. When it comes to nature and the environment, children make many exciting discoveries. Apps and children’s websites invite you to discover nature and the environment and to explore and identify the animals and plants around us.
Children are curious by nature and want to understand exactly what they are discovering in the world. Whether flowers or butterflies, animal tracks or constellations – with the right apps and online offers, you can learn new things about animals, plants and the environment together with your child. Take advantage of your child’s love of discovery and combine it with outdoor nature experiences. We present four selected apps and two children’s websites.
What’s blooming by the wayside? Take a photo of a flower, stem or leaf on a walk and find out the answer in seconds – the Flora Incognita (Latin for “unknown plant world”) app makes it possible. It is easy to use and turns children into naturalists. Thanks to a special algorithm, the AI-supported app recognizes a variety of flowers, shrubs, trees and grasses and provides information about them. The discoveries can be saved in the app and thus provide science with information on the distribution of plants. Flora Incognita is the product of a research project by the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena and Ilmenau University of Technology. The app is available free of charge and ad-free for iOS and Android devices. It is labeled by the USK from 0 years(Google Play Store).
More info: https://floraincognita.de/
“Cuckoo, cuckoo, calls from the forest!”. Birds often sit well hidden in bushes or on high trees. We don’t always see them, but can easily hear their chirping and calling. Telling the different bird calls apart is not so easy. The BirdNET app offers assistance. With it, bird calls can be recorded and directly determined. The profiles provide more detailed information on the feathered animals and the records are used for scientific purposes. BirdNET is a research project of Chemnitz University of Technology and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The free and ad-free app has a USK age rating from 0 years(Google Play Store) and is available for both iOS and Android.
More info: https://birdnet.cornell.edu/
The iNaturalist app is a social platform that connects nature lovers worldwide in a community. Users can upload and identify photos of all kinds of animals, plants and fungi via a profile. The observations are provided with the location and saved. This allows other users to look up what animals and plants have been spotted in the area and discuss the findings. There are an impressive number of discoveries in the free app. Nevertheless, it is clearly designed and easy to use for older children. iNaturalist is free and available for Android and for iOS. The app is labeled by the USK from 0 years(Google Play Store) and the use is allowed from 13 years according to the terms and conditions.
More info: https://www.inaturalist.org/
Big Dipper, Milky Way, Polaris: that’s how familiar most people are with our night sky. Beyond that, it often already becomes difficult. The Star Walk 2 Plus – Star Map app offers the opportunity to discover the stars and planets around us using the location of the camera function. By clicking on a celestial body, users can learn more about it. Using augmented reality, the app connects individual stars to form beautiful, three-dimensional constellations and accompanies the experience with atmospheric music. In-app purchases provide access to more categories such as satellites and comets. The app is free of charge and advertising in the basic version and available for Android and iOS. It is labeled by the USK from 0 years(Google Play Store).
More info: https://starwalk.space/de
Whether forest or meadow, city or countryside, mountains or water – children encounter nature everywhere. The NAJUversum website invites children aged 6 to 12 to discover the environment in a playful and interactive way. With child-friendly texts, exciting videos, games and hands-on activities, they learn a lot about animals, plants and habitats. Whether they want to find out how to build a squirrel house, how to separate waste correctly or how vegetables can grow without soil – NAJUversum makes them want to learn, do handicrafts and discover. The platform is offered by Naturschutzjugend (NAJU), the children’s and youth organization of NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union Germany). It has been recognized by Seitenstark as a high-quality children’s website.
More info: https://www.najuversum.de/
“Why is biodiversity important?” and “What can we look out for in our everyday lives to protect the environment?” The online environmental magazine Ökoleo answers these and other questions. It is aimed at children and young people aged 9 to 14. New articles on various nature and environmental topics are published weekly. Texts and images, videos and audio invite users to discover, participate and get active. Users can test their knowledge of nature in small quizzes. An encyclopaedia and excursion tips for Hesse give children even more ideas for getting active outdoors themselves. Ökoleo is an online magazine of the Hessian Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and is certified by Seitenstark.
More info: https://www.oekoleo.de/
