As we come to the end of our third week in lockdown it's safe to say that we might be starting to run a bit thin on ideas to keep wee ones (and big ones!) entertained.
Well, although you may be stuck inside for the foreseeable, you could always invite some wild animals into your home - albeit virtually.
Thanks to Google you can now inject some excitement into your day of home-schooling by turning your house into a virtual zoo using their 3D animal tool.
Channel your inner Tiger King and sit with a jungle cat on your living room sofa, or why not pop a panda in the kitchen?
How do you do it?
It's super easy - all you need to do is think of an animal, search for it in Google, and see if there's an option to 'view in 3D'.
For example, if you Google 'panda', photographs will come up with a description by Wikipedia.
Underneath this, you will then see a message that says "Meet a life-sized giant panda up close." You can then click the 3D option.
Species under the tool include lion, tiger, shark, cat, hedgehog, duck, penguin, horse, and loads more. You could even set a challenge for the children (or big kids) to see how many they can discover.
Google will need access to your camera and your phone needs to be running on either Android 7.0 or later, and if you have an iPhone, IOS 11 or later.
Once you've clicked 'view in 3D', you need to move your phone around so that Google can gather your surroundings before the animal is placed.
The animal will appear as life-sized, but you can drag the scale in and out to see the animal as a smaller version if it's overpowering the room.
How does it work?
Google uses Augmented Reality (AR) technology to project creatures into your phone's screen. Compared to a static image, it shows extra details with its added layers of digital data, which enables you to see the animals for what they're truly like.
The whole household could work through a huge list of animals that could keep you entertained for hours!
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