Kinect Adventures: Space Pop

LQ: 7.4

Brain grade: 7.1
Fun score: 7.7

Kinect Adventures: Space Pop - Educational Game Review

Game Type: Action ESRB Rating: Everyone Platform/Console: Xbox 360
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LWK Recommended Age: 5+ Other Requirements: Kinect sensor Thinking Skills Used: Flexibility

The goal in Space Pop is to pop as many on-screen bubbles as possible. Bubbles fill the room in “rounds,” with bursts of bubbles entering the screen at intervals and in varying patterns. The player needs only to touch the bubbles in order to pop them, and he is able to fly around the screen by standing in front of the Kinect sensor and flapping his arms. Putting his arms back down at his sides will cause him to descend, while holding them out straight will allow him to hover in place. The player can move from side to side in the game by simply leaning left and right. At the end of each round, the player is awarded a score depending on the number of bubbles popped. Because this game is easy to play, features no violence or inappropriate content, and requires no reading or other academic skills, it comes recommended for players ages 5 and up.

This Game is Good for Kids Who Need Help With:

Flexibility

Adapting and adjusting to changing conditions and expectations.

This game helps children practice their Flexibility skills, as they must act quickly to maneuver themselves and pop as many bubbles as possible. Bubbles enter the screen in bursts, and players are given only a limited amount of time to pop them, so they must think and move quickly in order to pop them all. With each burst, the bubbles appear in different patterns, changing in layout across three planes of the screen. If players do not remain flexible, they will have trouble adapting to the various patterns and may not be able to maneuver quickly enough and pop the bubbles before time runs out.

Use this PlayTogether guide to learn how you can help your child turn Kinect Adventures: Space Pop play time into a positive learning and relationship-building experience. To learn more about why playing games with your children is so important, check out our Science of Play page!

Talk Before You Play

Take a minute to talk with your child about how the Flexibility thinking skill works, and why it is important for success in school and at home.

Set Gameplay Goals

Kinect Adventures: Space Pop can be experienced as both a single player, and multiplayer game, so the best way to play with your child is to play cooperatively. Because Kinect Adventures: Space Pop lets players enjoy the action simultaneously, both players can work together to meet our gameplay goals. Take a moment to examine the goals below and see if you can meet each one with your child.

Gameplay Goals:

Play until you earn 200 points on any level.
Earn a Silver Medal on Silver Streaks.
Unlock Lunar Lines and play until you have earned a Bronze Metal or better.
Unlock Big Bang and play until you have earned a Bronze Metal or better.
Get 250 points in any level.

Stop and Reflect

After you have played through ten rounds of Kinect Adventures: Space Pop, take a minute to pause the game and talk with your child about how the game is exercising your Flexibility skills.

Share your ideas on how good Flexibility skills helped you to move quickly to adapt to the varying bubble patterns.

Relate how the Flexibility skills used in Kinect Adventures: Space Pop can be used in real life. For example, just like thinking and moving quickly is necessary to score well in Space Pop, Most sports require the player to move quickly and adapt to a variety of changing situations.

Ask your child to think of some times that Flexibility skills can help in school. For example, you need to think fast to quickly answer a question in class. Since you usually do not know what the teacher will ask, the ability to think on the spot is very helpful.

Explain to your child how the Flexibiloity skills used in Kinect Adventures: Space Pop can help us practice the difficult task of balancing hesitation and the use of our better judgement.

Our Make it Real activites are designed to transform your child’s gameplay into real-world improvements in thinking and academic skills. If you’re just getting started with LearningWorks for Kids, we suggest you try them all to find which are the best for you and your child.

Introduce the Thinking Skill

Read over the page for Flexibility. Then take some time to introduce this thinking skill to your child.

Explain That:

Flexibility is the thinking skill that helps us adapt to new situations, learn from mistakes, and adjust our strategies in order to deal with different challenges.

Flexibility Activity

Invent new games with your child. Take the rules from one game and add them to another. For example, play a memory game in which you must match three pieces rather than two, or a basketball shooting game in which you get two, three, four, or five points depending upon the type of shot you make. Talk about the need to create different strategies once the rules or conditions of a situation change.