Today, I held in my hands one of the very first Fisher-Price iXL Learning Systems (pronounced “I excel”), a new touch screen edu-game platform for preschoolers coming this June for $80. Can it dethrone the Leapster, which is rumored for major redesign? Let the 2010 tech-toy battles begin.
The size of a paperback book, the iXL opens like a clamshell, exposing a clear 240 by 320 pixel color touch screen that is slightly larger than one of screens found on a typical Nintendo DS. The added heft is a result of the four AA batteries, which provide about 8 hours of play time. The tethered stylus slips into a storage bay, and the single recessed power button is easy to find. There’s also a headphone jack, USB plug, volume controls, a speaker and an SD-card expansion slot. The batteries are preserved because the optical sensor tells the device to sleep if the lid is closed. Pink, blue and silver color options are available, reminding parents that this is a toy, after all.
Apple's iPad (coming April 1, 2010)
Why could the iPad revolutionize computing for kids? Here are some reasons.
Eric Rosenbaum
During Dust or Magic 2009, Eric Rosenbaum — a doctoral student at the MIT Media Lab, provided a preview of some of the research that is going on related to SCRATCH. Eric’s Master’s thesis explored reflective learning in the Scratch programming environment for children.
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Intel’s Infoscape is a prototype that was being shown at CES 2010. Here’s what I learned. There are two screens, each powered by a single i7 chip, which was the point of the display. This is not a production model. The display was created for Intel by http://foghorncreative.com and was positioned at the corner of Intel’s giant CES 2010 booth. Infoscape is made up of two 7′x7′ touch screen glass walls that are set at a 1920x1920 resolution. The content is controlled by “a man behind the curtain” (in this case Mike Martin) with a laptop. It is fun to think about what you could do with this type of technology in your living room, school lobby, classroom or library.
KFF's latest report considers ten years of survey data
Tomorrow, the Kaiser Family Foundation will release Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds (Rideout, Foehr & Roberts), an important report summarizing the media use patterns of 2,002 3rd–12th grade students and a subsample of 702 respondents who also volunteered to complete seven-day media use diaries. The study was conducted from October 20, 2008 through May 7, 2009. Past KFF surveys have provided an important reference point for new media scholars. Among the key findings:
• Over the past five years, there has been a huge increase in media use among young people. Today’s kids “pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes worth of media content into those daily 7½ hours—an increase of almost 2¼ hours of media exposure per day over the past five years.”
• An explosion in mobile and online media has fueled this increase. From page 2: “Try waking a teenager in the morning, and the odds are good that you’ll find a cell phone tucked under their pillow—the last thing they touch before falling asleep and the first thing they reach for upon waking.”
Expensive hardware has commonly been paired with curriculum in order to shoe-horn in platform specific curriculum to classrooms. As you read the following release, ask yourself — Does this mean that you can’t run Waterford’s Curriculum on a SMART Board, a 3M surface, or some other type of large screen? I’m not so sure.
I think this is more of a distribution deal.
Here’s the original press release:
January 12, 2010 – THQ Inc. today announced that Beat City for Nintendo DS — with 20 mini-games — will be available “spring 2010.” Players must find their rhythm in order to help Beat City. Using the stylus, players tap, swipe or hold on queue to the music’s beat in order to receive a high star rating within each mini-game. While players are tapping to the beat, they can watch the city transform. The better a player is at keeping the beat the more items are unlocked in the environment. Beat City is being developed by Universomo. Watch for an upcoming review.
Athlete View
Vancouver 2010 contains 14 Winter Olympic events including ski jumping, short track speed skating, snowboard cross and more. You can compete with up to three other players in your sport to try and earn a gold medal for your country. You can toggle between third person or a first person “Athlete View” that allows you to feel the speed. The game also features new single player challenge modes including Outrun the Avalanche and Beat the Blizzard. We tried the XBox 360 version. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
A procedure in progress
MEET Ellen, a 59 year-old woman with advanced Parkinson’s Disease, waiting for you at http://www.edheads.org/activities/brain_stimulation/. She’s the patient, you’re the surgeon. During a 20 minute or so procedure, your mouse becomes a shaver, scalpel, drill and swab, as you work through each step of Ellen’s brain surgery. At the end, you can get a happy patient and a deeper understanding for what a real neurosurgeon does.
Visiting Kids @ Play for an afternoon panel; three individuals who will probably do the most to shape the future of how children will use technology in the next few years, at least from the government’s view. From left to right, Karen Cator, Director of Educational Technology for the U.S. Dept. of Education; Chris Kelly, Former Facebook General Counsel and Candidate for Attorney General, State of California; and Julius Genachowski, Chairman of the FCC.
This construction game for Windows, Mac and Wii lets you drag-and-drop sticky blobs to construct structures that look a bit like carbon molecules. You quickly learn which structures work best to solve a particular problem. On one puzzle, you must construct the highest tower using the fewest possible parts. Another presents you with a spinning set of teeth that requires a curved structure.
There’s a lot of different ways to solve the same problem, making this game addicting. Content includes 15 different varieties of blobs, each with different properties; enough to keep things interesting. Note that a Wii-Ware version is available, as a download. This is a fun way to introduce building dynamics to young science students. Created by 2D Boy (www.2dboy.com) for Brighter Minds Media. Winner of the 2010 KAPi Award. Teaches: science, creativity, building, physics, forces, potential energy. Brighter Minds Media, Inc. www.brightermindsmedia.com, $20. Best for ages 7-up.
Rating: 
or .96%
No, it's not a toothbrush...
The dream of shrinking an entire LeapPad into a single (fat) stylus has become a reality, with the Tag Reading System ($50, www.leapfrog.com for Mac/Windows), which for the first time can also capture a child’s progress.
In 1999, the LeapPad made news by allowing children to touch any word or picture to hear the associated sound. But every page had to be registered with the reader, and each book paired with a cartridge. If the dog chewed up one or the other, you were out of luck. Tag eliminates the parts by syncing to your computer and storing up to six books in memory. The stories can either be read as audio books through a single clear speaker or headphones, or read in book form, with pages full of audio surprises. The built-in assessment system also recommends new books, at $14 each. These titles include a nice cross section of children’s literature, with titles like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Little Engine That Could and Walter the Farting Dog, complete with sound effects.
New for 2009 — about 12 new books, including more Disney content (Up, Cars, and Ben 10), Spiderman, a Star Wars graphic novel (for older readers); plus Madagascar, I SPY, Olivia, and several Dr. Seuss titles (The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham). Winner of the 2010 KAPi Award. See also Tag Junior. Teaches: Reading, comprehension, word recognition. LeapFrog. www.leapfrog.com, $50. Best for ages 4-12.
Rating: 
or .925%
One of the three additional expansion cartridges for the Leapfrog’s innovative Zippity High Energy Learning System, this cartridge plugs into the base of the game system to serve up four additional activities, in this case, related to Disney’s The Princess and Frog. There are four games, each embedding letter and numeral recognition with the Princess and Frog theme. Other titles in the series include Disney Princess Magical Movement & Learning and Disney/Pixar Cars. Created for Leapfrog and Disney by Chewy Software, LLC. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
One of three themed cartridges that extend the Zippity. By jumping on the mat, children fill in potholes; faster jumps equals fuller holes. Other titles in the series include Disney The Princess and the Frog, and Princess Magical Movement & Learning. Created for Disney and Leapfrog by Chewy Software LLC. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Looking for a well designed preschool app for your iPhone or iPod Touch?
Wheels on the Bus by Duck Duck Moose
Simply drag your fingertip across the screen to flip through this interactive version of the Wheels on the Bus song. While on a page, you can tap an item to see it animated. For example, when the bus is shown, you can tap on the steering wheel to make it spin, or open and close the doors.
It’s like an animated pop-up book. The game can be set to sing along in five languages, learn to recognize different instruments, and record your child’s singing. Come aboard the bus to spin the wheels, open and close the doors, swish the wipers, pop some bubbles, make a dog bark, and more. The iPhone version lets you record your own version of the song. Teaches: reading, fine motor coordination, word recognition. Duck Duck Moose Design. www.duckduckmoosedesign.com, $.99. Best for ages 3-6.
Rating: or .96%
Designed exclusively for the Zippity High Energy Learning System, this cartridge plugs into the base of the game system to offer three additional games — Ariel’s Fireworks Medley, Cinderella’s Dress Designer, and Snow White’s Dancing Delight — related to various Disney Princesses. Other titles in the series include Disney The Princess and the Frog, and Disney/Pixar Cars. Created for Disney and Leapfrog by Chewy Software LLC. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This mostly one player Wii game puts you in the role of a zookeeper, in which you take care of as many as 90 species of animals. The more you care for your virtual animals, the more you learn their habits and gain their trust, earning you hearts. Content includes 20 exhibits to unlock. A free-form mode allows you to interact with the animals you like best and you can also compete in goal-oriented and co-op challenges. There are also minigames to earn awards and gain access to unlockable content. Developed by Blue Fang, creators of the Zoo Tycoon series. See also SimAnimals. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Blackjack
This party style board game includes 17 virtual casinos and 15 gambling mini-games. The games are adaptations of real casino games that vary in quality. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The Wii version of Twilight Scene It? turns your TV screen into a trivia game show for up to four players. The content includes 500 questions, which are answered using the Wii remote. Your score can be increased not only by answering correctly, but also by being the first to buzz in. Games include Alice’s Vision (identify the location as it is slowly sketched), Movie Clip (watch a clip, and then correctly answer a question about it), Sequentials (put the scenes in order), and Upon Reflection (identify the character hidden behind the shimmering stars). There are both single and multi-player modes. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
The Sums Stacker app lets you move numerals and sets of numerals around with the tip of your finger. There are two modes of play — solve and race — and two difficulty levels. The challenge is bite-sized and addicting: to make a three column stack of quantities that add up to the number shown at the bottom of the screen. Once the stack matches the sum, the screen clears and you get another challenge.The numbers are represented in eight ways that vary in their level of abstraction. More information is at www.mathdoodles.com. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This mixture of story telling and stories lets you narrate 16 classic children’s fairy tales and fables from Hans Christian Anderson, Aesop, the Brothers Grimm and Japan. A USB microphone is included in the $40, turning your Wii into a simple and affordable storybook jukebox. Children can read along, record and play back readings of favorite stories. You can also sing along to four children’s songs and record those performances. The Magic Voice Box option allows you to alter your voice to match the storybook characters’ speech as you read. You can also earn the option to use your Mii in select stories, play games in the Play & Learn Mode, and track progress by using a virtual sticker pad (the more books you read, the more stickers you earn). Stories include: Little Red Riding Hood; The Ugly Duckling; The Town Musicians of Bremen; Be Kind to the Earth; The Boy Who Went to the North Wind; The Little Match Girl; The Happy Prince; The Giant Turnip; A Glove; Hats for the Jizos; Three Wishes; The Star Money; The Elves and the Shoemaker; and The Golden Goose. See the preview here http://www.konami.com/games/storybook/. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Following the tried-and-true “buy a toy, get a password” business model, Smiley Central Studio consists of a set of $10 smiley toys, each with a password to a creativity studio, found at www.smileycentralstudio.com.
There are five types of toys, including a key chain, plush toy, a collection of figurines and charms. First you log onto www.smileycentralstudio.com where you must register and type in your 13 digit code. This process is hardly child-friendly, but fortunately is only required once. There are no credit cards or subscriptions to worry about. Next, you see your toy surrounded by sets of stamps, clothing items and paint buckets. You can then modify your Smiley by decorating the smile face. Finished work can be saved online for later viewing. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Inspired by the animated film, this game includes 25 mini-games that include moving to the music, cooking, and dressing Tiana. You can also collect Mardi Gras beads to trade for new dresses, fabrics, ingredients and recipes, as well as explore quest hubs with drop-in/drop-out multiplayer. The game features seven playable characters.
The DS version is a platforming side scrolling game, that lets you play as Tiana and Ray as you jump, swing and soar in order to collect ingredients and recipes, and cook dishes. You can also perform music with 1-4 players using wireless DS multi-card play and save your tunes in the game’s jukebox. Designed by Griptonite Games. Prices are $40 for the Wii version, $30 for the DS, and $20 for the PC version. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
In PES 2010, you take your team to the Champions League. Your roster can include real life players, each with unique characteristics. The improved AI will now help your offense to build attacks or close down your opponents attacks. Other new features include a Master League where you can create and manage your team for a longer period of time. Prices are $40 for the Wii version, $60 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, and $30 for the PS2 and PSP versions. Developed by Winning Eleven Productions. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
After you choose your NBA team, you can tweak the roster, or just jump into the tip off. The teams are based on the current rosters, which are checked online. While there are thousands of details, it is still possible to pick up and play the game, and a novice player can have fun with basic passing and shooting. A Dynasty Mode lets you control your favorite team throughout the season. There are 24 teams who can compete in an international tournament. There’s no shortage of sponsored content, including ads for Sprite (the soft drink). Prices are $60 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, and $40 for the PSP. Note that the purchase includes a password good for one year of a service called “Dynamic DNA” and “Dynamic Season.” Both download the latest stats for your players and teams. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Dare I call him a visionary, here’s good-natured David Pogue of 2040, during his visit to Kids @ Play at CES. He did an excellent job telling us what the future will look like.
Open-ended drawing activity
Mister Rogers was known to be a bit of a geek, and he would’ve undoubtedly been thrilled to know that he finally has a bit of his neighborhood captured as an app. Despite being limited in content, it’s hard to find too many faults with this first effort.
Designed to be a crutch for helping children describe feelings, this fill-in-the-blank story maker comes with five pre-packaged themes (pretending, playtime, books, at school and when I get mad) plus a well-designed open-ended drawing activity. This later choice makes it easy and fun to finger paint with a selection of markers, watercolors, crayons or stamps; and then save your work to your device’s photo library. So yes, you could theoretically print out your child’s picture and hang it on your refrigerator.
Created by Touch Screen Preschool Games (www.touchscreenpreschoolgames.com, aka Darren Murtha Design) for PBS Kids (pbskids.org/mobile). Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Hands On! Tangrams contains 100 puzzles, organized into themes that generally start easy, and get harder with each puzzle. Tangrams are geometric puzzles that consist exclusively of seven sizes of squares or triangles. The idea is that you see an outline, and then drag and drop the shapes into place, not unlike a jigsaw puzzle. The shapes can be flipped or rotated. Once the parts are in order, the parts fall out of the grid and the puzzle comes to life. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This is a new feature that lets you password-protect your browser, so that the only Google search option is strict filtering, designed to remove explicit language and images. To change your settings go to the classic Google start page, click on “Settings” at the top of the screen and then “Search Settings.” Look for the SafeSearch settings, and find the “Lock SafeSearch.” Once it is checked, you’ll need to type your password to set the lock. From this point on, any Google search done with that browser will be strictly filtered, to remove explicit text and explicit pictures. In addition, four large colored balls are shown on the top of the search results screen if the SafeSearch lock is on; a design that is easy to spot from across the room. No colored balls means no lock. Learn more by watching 
. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
In this seventeenth edition of FIFA, you first create an avatar using a 3D head using the Photo Game Face. Then you can join a club and play as yourself across any mode, and grow your player attributes through 200 accomplishments. Next, you can take your game online, competing against up to ten other players in online competition. You can assign a specific role to each outfield player, and then combine them. The AI allows players to avoid passes not intended for them, avoid blocking teammate shots, and throw themselves in the way of attacker’s shots in defense. A practice mode lets you work on individual skills before taking the field. Prices are $60 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, $50 for the Wii, $40 for the PSP, and $30 for the Nintendo DS and PS2 versions. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Created by Canadian developer Core Learning, the interface is based on the Basic and Junior Levels of Core Learning’s corefx (see review). Children can choose form 12 art tools, including tempera paint, acrylic paint, watercolor, chalk, crayon, oil pastel, colored pencil and so on. The clip art library includes hundreds of project ideas, for example, you create your own dog by dragging and dropping parts into place. Other features include progressive undo and redo features to allow for experimentation and a basic drawing tutorial. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Yet another spin on the DDR idea of matching moving targets to the rhythm of a song, this collection of 25 songs let’s you become a member of the Chipmunk’s band. You start easy, at a concert in Chicago, and gradually work your way up to a world tour, following a tried and true Rock Band and Guitar Hero format. Features include a multiplayer mode that lets you compete with up to two other players, and a jukebox mode that lets you sing along to the music and lyrics. The Wii version requires a Nunchuk in order to work. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
- First Annual KAPi Winners Announced at CES Kids at Play Event ( http://bit.ly/78X279 ) #KAP10 #
- Play champion Docia Zavitkovsky died this morning. See "From Docia" ( http://bit.ly/7ZB8Dn ) #
December 1, 2009
Editorial by Warren Buckleitner
In 1968, a computer scientist named Alan Kay was one of the first to sip the “let’s empower children with technology” Kool-Aid.
Inspired by the freshly translated theories of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, Kay sketched out a prototype for a wireless, touch screen device that would cost less than $500.
Flash forward 42 years. The Obama Administration is collecting ideas on how to spend millions of dollars on educational technology. The effort is being led by Karen Cator of the DOE. If you have an idea, you can submit it to Karen at www.edtechfuture.org (until Dec. 6).
The path toward technology empowerment is littered with lost acronyms and heavy marketing. In the 1980s, entire states invested in IBM’s WTR (Writing to Read) program. More recently, entire countries have bought into OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). And what do we have to show for eight years of NCLB (No Child Left Behind) solutions?
The heavy marketing behind “breakthrough” technology solutions has remained constant. At the last NECC, there were elaborate booths and afterhours parties designed to promote projector-driven interactive whiteboards, at a cost of $3000 each (not counting installation). These mono-touch devices are loaded with problems. They require projectors that heat air-conditioned classrooms with a fragile $400 bulb, and it is obvious that a non-projector, LCD-based multitouch big screen (such as Microsoft Surface) will replace the current interactive whiteboard concept.
The time is right to revisit Alan’s original idea. That same $3000 could provide 16.5 iPod Touch devices, enough for over half of a typical class. So for the cost of one teacher-controlled monotouch device at the front of the room, you could pass out multitouch devices to each student ($3000/$182 = 16.5 or so). These devices—which can connect through the school’s Wi-Fi network— also give every child search engine access, plus the ability to browse hundreds of millions of videos on YouTube. In addition, there are now thousands of education-related apps, like Hidden Pictures, page 16.
This time around, we need an honest, theory-and-assessment driven plan. The theories of Piaget and Gardner should trump the marketing talents of marketing firms like Edelman and Weber Shandwick, don’t you think?
The good news, is that the breeze from Moore’s Law (page 4) is blowing us all in the right direction, back to Alan Kay’s Dynabook. We’ll get there, sooner or later.
P.S. If you’re at CES next month, come say hello. I’ll be at the Kids at Play conference, where Alan Kay will revisit his DynaBook idea, in real time.
P.S.S. Have a happy holiday!
This touch-and-explore book for the iPhone/iPod Touch contains 20 pages of surprises, hidden in simple, hand drawn illustrations. In the story, two best friends, a Monkey (Madera) and a Frog (Figaro) work together to find a lost cat named Ginger. As you move throughout the story, you can either freely touch to find hidden routines, or complete simple matching, counting and sorting tasks on par with what a child would encounter during the first week of Kindergarten. For example, in one screen, children touch and drag acorns to a matching squirrel hole. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
For the first time in the series, Princess Zelda leaves the underworld and joins Link as he tries to save the land of Hyrule. Zelda’s spirit provides guidance and controls suits of armor, called Phantoms, which can help Link defeat enemies, solve puzzles, and uncover secrets. The game features new game elements including a customizable train which Link conducts. When on the train, Link must determine the best route to the end of the line, avoiding obstacles and firing an onboard cannon at enemies who attack the train, or sounding the whistle to scare animals off the tracks. The game also features a variety of new items for Link to use, including the Whirlwind, which you activate by blowing into the DS microphone. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
In this matching game with an Egyptian theme, your goal is to match items in grids that vary in difficulty in order to earn money used to rebuild parts of the ancient kingdom, and unlock harder puzzles. Content includes 100 levels, 20 buildings, and new bonus tools, along with four language options. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
This scavenger hunt adventure for one player is set in a floating island, far above the sky. According to the story,
the island’s fans are having trouble, and it’s up to you to stop the island from crashing back to Earth. 
How do you do that? By completing the 60 missions, one at a time. As you explore the maze-like ramps, you exchange dialog with people, who also offer clues about the next task. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Easy to use but limited in quality and storage, Disney’s In Scene Video Camera looks like a standard flip camera, that comes with a small tripod, creating your child’s first pocket sized movie making studio. It comes in either boy/girl themes (we reviewed the pink princess model). The camera works with your Windows computer, which is required to charge the battery and download the video. Mac users are out of luck. The $80 kit includes a CD containing a software editing package (Disney Flix) as well as a large blue curtain for movie making. When you aim the camera at the blue screen, you see a checkered background; and this lets you put yourself inside of Disney themed movie sets, with different music and clip art options. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.
Here’s a solid addition to your children’s App collection on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Created for Highlights, Inc. by Mobad Games (www.mobadgames.com) the $1.99 app contains eight seek-and-find puzzles based on the original puzzles that have appeared in the print version of the magazine, starting in 1946.
Highlights Hidden Pictures (www.highlights.com/iphone) starts by introducing each hidden picture, one at a time, along with a coloring book-like scene with titles such as “Best Friends,” “On the Farm,” or “Pigs Pizzeria.” Children as young as three can touch to find the dozen or so hidden items, or pull in for a closer inspection to find a hidden hammer, cane or banana. Each correct find is filled in with color, while random jabs result in a bonk on the cowbell. Get stuck? A hint feature circles the area where an item might be found. When all the pictures are identified, you are rewarded with a shower of confetti and see the entire picture, colored in. The main menu remembers which puzzles you’ve already solved and it is also possible to replay a puzzle at any time. Subscribers, please log into our database using your password to read the full review along with our rating.