Engaging app uses toys to improve pre-schoolers’ early number skills results by up to 71%!
Have you heard of Tiggly?
What sounds like a cutesy character from a kids TV show, is actually the latest in cutting edge educational tech for kids aged 18 months plus.
The Tiggly Shapes app, designed by two Harvard educated Dads, is one of the first apps created that combines physical ‘toy’ with an app interface.
Dubbed “a toy that will make your kid smarter” by Time Magazine, the original Tiggly was designed with young kids in mind, from 18 months to 3 years. It incorporates a set of plastic shapes that can be identified by the iPad. When placed on the iPad the shapes activate three different games. For example, in one game placing the shapes onto the screen creates animals that come to life.
The new Tiggly Counts app, designed for kids aged 3 – 6 years, uses counting toys that interact with three different app games. This new release has not only been shortlisted as Toy of The Year, but has recently been found to improve preschooler number skills by up to 71%.
The Play Collective study looked at 47 different kids from Washington D.C and New York City and assessed their learning and engagement when playing with the Tiggly Counts app. Of the group of kids aged between 4 – 5 years old, 71% showed an increase in early number skills and 21% showed an overall mathematic improvement in just two weeks. The study also found that the kids themselves were really engaged by the app, specifically the game Tiggly Chef, where kids were playing for more than 20 minutes at a time.
The study concluded that this learning and engagement could be due to the unique combination of linking an app with a physical object, meaning that kids are learning in a tactile fashion.
Do you tend to use apps for your kids as educational toys, or more entertainment value?
No comments:
Post a Comment