Our First Augmented Reality Scavenger Hunt Through A Fairy Tale eBook With The Second Graders

Friends....This is a project that I did with LayAR a few years ago.  Since that, LayAR has changed the way things were created and unfortunately took this project down.  Even though it makes me sad, I hope that this idea inspires you to use other apps which offer AR and VR experiences to our students. 
I am working on a few ideas right now and will share as soon as I have them ready.  

Thank you, Shannon

Please read the original post....

All year long, I have wanted to do a project with augmented reality.  

I have used a few of the AR apps that are available such as the ColAR app for Dot Day and we learned about Aurasma when my friend Brad Waid and his students taught us about it in a Google Hangout one day.

Both of these apps were so engaging and exciting for the kids to use....I wanted to do more. 

And I wanted to create a project that incorporated reading, books, and technology.  And most of all....be fun for the kids to be part of.  

My friend Elissa Malespina told me a few weeks ago that I had to try out the Layar website and app.  She thought it was much easier to use than some that we had been trying.  

I also wanted to mention.... During this post you will want to get the Layar app downloaded on your device before you read any further.  We are going to have some fun. 

When you need to use the Layar app to scan, the text will be in bold like this.  

So I had the tool that I wanted to use, now I just had to match it up to the right project and group. 

I decided to incorporate augmented reality into a project I have been working on with the second grade teachers, along with the art and music teacher.  We have been focusing on fractured fairy tales, which is a big part of their curriculum in second grade as well.  

One of the teachers, Melanie Smith, and I happen to run across this wonderful series of fairy tales from Capstone Publishing called  The Other Side of the Story.  The story and illustrators are just so much fun....any child would love to read these.  And teachers would love to share them too.  We have the titles in our library now.  

We also have a few of the stories in eBook format within our MackinVIA.    For this project, we are going to use Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten! by. Trisha Speed Shaskan.    

We love the eBook!  It is told by "The Wolf" which is so much fun.....and the kids love the voice of the wolf too.  

When we got the eBook a few weeks ago, I read it and knew we had to do something with this eBook from the series.  

I would create an augmented reality scavenger hunt through this fairy tale eBook using Layar and a few more digital tools.  The kids would LOVE this....To be able to use the iPads and the laptops would be super fun for all of us.  

So I set off to create the scavenger hunt using augmented reality.  I have created them with QR codes before but this would be something new for me.  

 

I decided to have 10 different questions that the students would answer while participating in the steps of the scavenger hunt.  I created the 2nd Grade Fractured Fairy Tale Augmented Reality Scavenger Hunt Google Doc to share with all of them.

As they read the eBook, the students would come across these 10 questions that would ask questions about what they were reading and extending that knowledge a few times too. 

Within the website Layar, I created a new "Campaign", which can contain multiple pages that you create (you can see the pages on the left hand side of the page in the screenshot above).  

I created the pages from different screen shots of the pages of the eBook.  I took 10, which is how many questions I decided there would be for them to answer.  

Next I went through each page in my campaign and decided what they were going to have to find when they scanned it with the Layar app.   These are called "Buttons" in Layar.  

This is one big reason I love using Layar....there are lots of choices of what you embed into your images.

With the "Standard Buttons" you can embed websites, video, audio files, and even SoundCloud is a choice.  

When I saw that SoundCloud was an option, I was so excited.  I love SoundCloud and how easy it is to use.  We have a Van Meter Library Voice SoundCloud channel that we use to record quick podcasts when reading poetry, sharing books, and even reading aloud.  

The kids love using SoundCloud on the computers and especially the app.  

In fact, if you scan this picture from the book, you will be able to see how SoundCloud works too.  

Under "Standard Buttons" you can also add video and audio.

Scan the cover above to hear the directions for augmented reality scavenger hunt from my little avatar I created.  

              

I have been creating little Tellagami's to highlight a tool each day in My Teacher Librarian Gave To Me....20 Days of Awesome Library and Technology Tools & Resources Smore.  I thought it would be fun to use for the scavenger hunt because the avatar can actually tell my students the directions....and it is my voice and avatar.

It was very easy to add this Tellagami video to the page.

You can scan this page too with the Layar app to see how fun it is to use the Tellagami app with this project.  

You can also create "Custom Buttons" which gives you lots of nice ways to embed content.   You could have the button point to images, video, website, and more.

For my buttons, I created images using ReciteThis.  It is a great digital tool to create posters....there are always lots of awesome styles to choose from and ways to share it. These is easy for the second graders to use to create too.  

You can scan this page and answer a question from PebbleGo.  This page goes along with the Tellagami that you just watched above.  

Once I gave the second graders the directions and showed them the different things they might find, they were ready to get started.  They were so excited!  I reminded them to read and listen to every page of the eBook....the questions would guide them.

Each student had a partner.  They got a computer and iPad from the carts.  They also had one of the worksheets and a pencil so they could record their answers.  

I love how almost all of the second graders came up, including our friend David from Capstone, to scan the front cover with their Layar app.  Remember....this took them into the Tellagami I created to explain the directions.  

I had so much fun too working with the second graders and hearing their reaction to the project.  

They all enjoyed answering the questions too.  The took a lot of pride in doing a good job throughout the entire project....and they wanted to make sure they found the correct answers during the scavenger hunt.

You can also create a button using a YouTube video.  

Scan this page and see what they found at the very end of the eBook.  

This project using Layar is one that I am going to do with the other 2nd grade class today.  I am excited for them to be able to do an activity like this too.  

Using Layar and other augmented reality apps and websites holds endless possibilities on how we incorporate it into the curriculum, our classrooms, and libraries.  

By adding augmented reality to this eBook I connected them to our school community, several digital tools, and created a reading experience that was interactive, fun, and memorable for them. 

Within Layar, you can also save and share your campaigns.  All of your pages are brought together, you can add a description and cover page, and then press "Save and go to sharing options."

I can't wait to create my next project using augmented reality.....Just think of the possibilities.