by John Geletka, EVP of Digital Strategy at Duffy
Every year there are crazy new games, toys and gear brought out to capture the attention of children and, of course, the wallets of parents. The internet is filled with cool things and great ideas are coming out from sites like kickstarter and indiegogo daily. Toy Fairs and other events are filled with the new stuff that too often becomes the same stuff sitting in the aisles of the big box stores.
But the real news is an emerging trend in toys and games that teach coding to preschoolers.
{Full disclosure. I have a 3-year old daughter. Also, Duffy (where I am EVP of Digital Strategy) is embedded in Kids II, the company behind Bright Starts, Baby Einstein and Ingenuity, working on driving change through design to products, branding and culture.}
I’m already excited about the steady uptick in engineering toys for girls hitting the market. My wish list for my daughter includes: GoldieBlocks, Roominate and programs like Alexa Cafe.
But it’s the next evolution of engineering toys about sequencing that’s even more exciting. For example, Fisher Price’s soon-to-be-released “Code-A-Pillar” teaches a child to assemble the caterpillar’s parts in different patterns. Depending on the sequencing, the caterpillar will change directions, make different sounds and light up, as it should. This could be really helpful and fun. In fact, if branded by Cartoon Network, it would emit a bodily function sound as well. That’s universal.
It’s no secret (or problem, at least for me) that our kids are exposed to a ton of media and can access this information on a variety of devices. My daughter’s favorite toy is my iPhone. At 3 years old she knows the interface. Finding videos, playing games, ignoring my texts and emails with the swipe of a finger, doing little things--she’s got that down. She likes her blanket, books and “real” games and puzzles a lot too. If you ask me, the combination is unbeatable, and I want to encourage her curiosity in both worlds.
As parents it’s a balance though. My wife and I constantly seek out ways to engage our daughter with the real world just as much as we do the online world. She takes language classes, soccer; all of the “traditional” stuff parents do for their kids. The child is a cost center. So, does buying into the coding toys for preschoolers make sense? Or is it some corporate scheme to sell hope to parents worried about getting their kids into the right kindergarten, high school, college and career?
As a tech guy, I believe that finding the right combination of tactile toys and digital toys will make her better prepared for the modern world.
Three years old is a great age to move kids away from exploratory toys based on getting them to memorize stuff. I’m not a cognitive psychiatrist, but I know she can do more. We see that from the way she uses applications. Coding is a great way to break out of rote learning. The coding apps and toys provide a super accessible way to program the objects and functions to build a system. This generation is getting their hands dirty early. If we can make it fun for them, I’m all for it.
No doubt some parents are wondering about the impact preschool coding might have on their kids. I refer you to Simone Giertz of the million view YouTube hit, “Simone’s Robots.” She programs and builds robots that do silly things. She is a role model for my daughter.
And so the loop for this article is complete. Toys->Coding->->SillyRobots->Toys
Now, Daddy wants his iPhone back.
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John Geletka, Duffy EVP of Digital Strategy
With more than 15 years’ experience merging marketing and technology, John blends technical acumen with form, function, and design. His expertise encompasses marketing strategy, brand planning, product development, user-centered design, and cross-platform mobile and web application development. John’s work has been recognized for design and technology excellence by: The Favourite Website Awards, The Webby Awards, Communication Arts, and numerous other publications and organizations. He often speaks about design, technology, and user experience around Chicago. John also teaches digital foundations at the Chicago Portfolio School: https://duffy.com