Disneynature Explore app encourages kids to play in the outdoors

Most apps and games encourage kids to be sedentary. But the Disneynature Explore app encourages kids to play in nature and discover fun things via augmented reality.

The free app debuts on the Apple App Store today, coinciding with Earth month and the release of independent film label Disneynature’s latest movie, Bears. The app combines augmented reality experiences with an animal-behavior game that encourages kids to go on adventures. We’ll see if it makes kids more active.

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The app makes 3D-animated animals appear in the live camera view of your iOS device. You can play with brown bears or catch salmon in your own backyard or neighborhood. You can follow the tracks to help a bear find her cub or hunt with a lion for a warthog. You can view the world through a butterfly’s eyes or explore the ocean on the back of a turtle.

The app has five animal adventures and challenges to go with them. Kids can shoot photos of each adventure and add them to a journal. Disneynature Explore has no in-app purchases or third-party advertising. It requires iOS 7 or higher and works with iPad Mini, iPad Air, iPod 5, iPad 2, and iPhone 4 and above.