I remember countless hours playing with Play Doh as a kid, making monsters, strange hybrid animals, and yummy food (presumably for my brother and I to share with our monsters and animals).
The pure joy of building things with my bare hands is something that sure has continued throughout my life, and it's exciting to find out that __kids now have another way to explore their physical Play Doh creations - in the virtual world!
The Play Doh Touch Shape to Life Studio kit is a new offering in the 'app-enabled' toy space which allows __kids to bring their Play Doh masterpieces into an app and interact with it.
Using an iPad, you can scan the Play Doh creatures and objects created with the kit, and these can then be used within the Touch app; your clay creatures can run and jump and move about, and you can decorate the environment with other clay creations.
What I think is especially useful is that on top of the fine motor skills and imaginative play that Play Doh enables and encourages, the Shape to Life kit also helps introduce digital skills that no doubt will be required as children grow older; using a touch screen, using a digital camera/scanner, and navigating a virtual environment. There's even a kind of 'design process' if you care to think about it in that way: exploring and making a physical prototype, capturing and creating a virtual model, and then finally, using this model to complete tasks.
Could this toy be a perfect start for the next generation of engineers and designers? At the very least, it looks like a whole lot of fun!
The Play Doh Touch Shape to Life Studio is available at the Apple Store
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