George Rodrigue launches iPad app

Famed artist George Rodrigue was at Trinity Episcopal Day School today to mark the launch of a free blue dog app for the iPad. “You Can Count on Blue Dog” is aimed at teaching children 3-5 how to count. Each page has a different piece of Rodrigue’s art, complete with countable objects. When children touch the objects, they hear the pronunciation of the number and the numeral is displayed. The app was created in conjunction with the Louisiana Digital Gaming Imitative and the Academy of Interactive Entertainment. AIE students in Australia handled the programming for the app. Rodrigue says creating the app was a natural step after he’d done the artwork for two children’s books. Rodrigue selected Trinity Episcopal because the school was the first to download the app and send him pictures of the children using it, says Faith Kobetz, a teacher at the school. —Timothy Boone