PRP - Eighth artefact, Fun School

Having browsed through many sites through this project is starting to make it more of a challenge to find new sources, especially when looking for a certain thing that I know will be beneficial to my research and now be a good test piece for children to analyse.

I came across 'funschool' (designed by Kaboose) through my searching and it looks like a site that could appeal to all ages.
Design

The overall design has used bright, bold colours that could catch the users eye from a distance, pink appears to be a popular colour used on the however this has been toned down by the use of the blues and oranges used on the navigation and tabs . Imagery has been used throughout the whole design with clear labelling. This is useful for the younger children who may not have fully learnt how certain words but recognise images.

The navigation of the site is packed with small interactive pieces i.e. sounds and animation that would appeal to a younger child. Although these aspects can be entertaining there are a number of different tabs that potentially a younger child could find confusing and so parental guidance could be needed.

What is noticeable is the advertisements sprawled all across the website. Its a big part of the site and this could easily detract users away from the website.

Interactivity and Learning

Browsing through the site it is clear that many games are available and for all subjects. From english to art funschool is guaranteed to have a game that would suit the child's needs. Many themes have been incorporated throughout the design work including dinosaurs for history and cowboys for descriptions. The majority of the games have a learning outcome and what is good about the funschool site is that all aspects of learning is included. Games have been designed to build on children's knowledge about the meanings of words, fractions and biology.

On the whole this site is a great example of an educational site. Apart from the large amount of advertising the design relates to the target audience and the interactivity has a quirky effect. The navigation could be a little less complicated although with all of the tabs labelled well with imagery and text this is not a big issue.