The Whale Highway
The humpback whales' journey up and down Australia's east coast: north to warm water in winter, where their calves are born, and home to Antarctica in spring.
How it plays
A map of Australia's east coast, with a humpback whale in the cold water near Antarctica. Your child taps the glowing circle and the whale swims north, past Eden, Sydney, Byron Bay and Hervey Bay, to the warm water up north, where her calf is born. In spring, Mum and her calf swim home to Antarctica. Ruby Roo says one true thing at each stop. There's nothing to get wrong: the next circle just waits to be tapped.
What it's for
The humpback whales' journey up and down Australia's east coast: north to warm water in winter, where their calves are born, and home to Antarctica in spring. There is no score to lose and no way to fail: a wrong move is met with a gentle nudge, and a level ends when it's done.
Away from the screen: A whale's trip on the floor
About two minutes, with things most homes have.
- Lay a long scarf or a towel on the floor: that's the coast.
- Put a cold thing at one end (a cup of ice, or a picture of snow) and a warm thing at the other (a sunhat).
- Your child is the whale. They swim from the cold end to the warm end, and back again.
- On the way back, a teddy comes too: the baby whale.
Three questions to ask while they play
- Is the water colder at the top of the map or the bottom?
- Why do you think the whale swims all that way?
- Who swims home with her in spring?
Play together
Things to say or ask
- The whale is swimming past where we live! Can you find us on the map?
- She swims north in winter, when it's cold down south.
Taking turns on one device: Take turns tapping the glowing circle, one stop each.
If they find it hard
Let them just tap and watch the first time, and you read the place names. Next time, ask them to point to where the whale is going before they tap.
Every fact, and where it comes from
What Ruby Roo says in The Whale Highway was checked against the page it links to.
- After a summer feeding on krill in Antarctic waters, humpbacks migrate north to sub-tropical waters, up to 10,000 km a year. (Australian Government (Save Our Whales))
- Most humpbacks in Australian waters migrate north from June to August and back towards the Southern Ocean from September to November. (Australian Government (Save Our Whales))
- Humpbacks mate and give birth in the warmer northern waters. (Australian Government (Save Our Whales))
- They feed on krill in Antarctic waters in summer. (Australian Government (Save Our Whales))
What it practises
- Australian animals. What animals look like and where they live (My animal friends cards).
AC9SFU01 (Science, Foundation); AC9S1U01 (Science, Year 1) - Weather and seasons. Noticing the weather each day and how it changes with the seasons, and what to wear for it.
AC9S1U02 (Science, Year 1)
The codes are from the Early Years Learning Framework V2.0 (for children from birth to five) and the Australian Curriculum v9 (Foundation to Year 2). Each links to the official wording. Every skill, and the games for it.
What it costs, and what we collect
Nothing, and nothing. There is no account, no advertising and no tracking of any kind. Which games have been played is remembered on your own device and is never sent anywhere. The full version is here, and it's short.
Where it lives
The Whale Highway is part of Australia's seas. It works on a phone, a tablet or a classroom screen, and once it's been opened it keeps working with no signal at all.
Updated