Toys have been an essential element of everyone’s childhood. Ranging from simple to fancy ones, each one of us has owned a certain toy that remains close to our heart and is deeply associated with out childhood memory. While earlier, their aim was to entertain the kid and keep him/her busy, over the years; with the advancements in technology, the toy industry witnessed a change too. However, in the present times, with the technology evolving at a fast pace, Augmented Reality has taken over the reign in various sectors especially in the toy industry. Being the new fad, toymakers have been increasingly making use of AR to develop superior quality toys perfectly blending education with entertainment. They are now manufactured with an aim to educate the child while providing leisure.
Combining digital aspects in a real-world setting, this is one of the perfectly fitting technologies in the toy industry. A plethora of players are making use of this science and have been coming up with advanced toys to ensure the kids’ craving for fun times is satiated in a modernistic and learning manner. Various options are available that provide educational information along with the fun quotient.
Making use of all the senses, kids spend time productively without becoming addicted to the screens 24/7 while using AR based toys. Being every parent’s fantasy to imbibe educational information in a fun manner, we share with you the list of the top 5 educational toys that enable kids to learn while playing:
1. Kano
The Kano PC kit is no less than a personal laptop for kids. Created with state of the art technology and offering high-end software, this piece teaches science and coding along with creativity. It would be an ideal first computer system for your kids with its ergonomic features. This touchscreen toy with all the features of a personal computer system offers built-in learning activities.
Appropriate for kids aged 6 and older, this DIY tablet will serve to be the ideal destination for learning art, science along with the coding. Consisting of hardware components, the kid needs to fit the parts to create a functional Windows 10 tablet that comes with a MicroSD card slot and detachable keyboard. Once completed, the kid can share their projects with the Kano community on Kano World online.
This one is worth the price and should be owned to extend a comprehensive learning experience to your kids.
2. PlayShifu
PlayShifuknown for its tech-savvy toy variants offers unique products for kids from the 4-12 age group that enforces logical and reasoning ability, creativity, along with providing frolic times.
Its flagship products, Shifu Plugo Series and Shifu Orboot have been a hit in the AR toy market.
PlayShifu was conceived with the idea to make the time children spent in front of a screen fun and to help children learn during the different stages of their cognitive, creative, and linguistic development.
3. Littlebits
Owning Littlebits would be no less than savoring the experience of an e-classroom. Its coding kit is its signature product and is ideal for kids from third to the eighth standard who wish to step into the coding arena at an early age.
All one needs is to purchase the kit as per the requirements and the kid will be flooded with various relevant tutorials and lessons. All the resources and information are readymade and are handily available. Their Steam+ kit extends curriculum-aligned material while engaging the kids in an analytical thinking process. It offers activities, innovations for maker spaces, libraries, camps, clubs, etc.
4. WonderWorkshop
Aiming to build future innovators, this is a wonderful product for kids aged 6 and above. Offering an array of services and products makes it counted in the top 5 categories of AR-based toys. The kid gets a chance to explore the in-app puzzle library, standard-based lessons along with robotic challenges. It extends the best of curriculum-based and personal development learning.
Its mobile application, Wonder for Dash & Dot Robots extends learning about robotics in a fun way. It is a coding tool that enables the kid to play and explore robotics all by themselves. It offers 300+ challenges that teach kids about robotics programming and building. They can create their own machinery, feed in their desired mechanisms, and play the challenges. The app extends a playful learning experience so as to make kids independent and logical from an early age.
5. Osmo
The brand offers electronic toys that are compatible with iPad or Amazon Fire tablets. Making the use of tangible pieces, they extend the state of the art education entertainingly.
The kit consists of numbers, shapes, coding instructions, and puzzles, drawing, and business aptitude, etc. learning features that allow the kid to explore the various fields and learn independently.
The kid just needs to feed in the Osmo base over the device’s camera. While they play with the game pieces, the base scans the table and the child’s creativity is projected on the screen. This award-winning firm aims to bridge the gap between the education process being boring and fun translating to unproductive time.
Augmented Reality has enabled the perfect blending of learning and leisure time that is both work and play. With AR, the toy segment has witnessed various advancements. The graph will continue to soar as new features will be introduced and the market will be filled with product innovations and launches.
Thriving in a competitive world, AR helps create a sustainable environment for the kids to ensure that the learning is extended in an interactive manner and that the fun time does not overpower the knowledge gaining process.
