An interactive educational toy that bridges physical play with online interactive learning. Inspired by Montessori and brain sciences.
Game Geeks News are proud to bring you another amazing project currently running on kickstarter. KidX is an AI education company merging offline and online play through multimodal AI. KidX empowers educators to expand their reach and efficiency, parents to feel confident, and children to learn anytime, anywhere. KidX Classbox is an interactive educational toy that bridges physical play with online interactive learning on a tablet. The toy was inspired by a Montessori dad who was frustrated with the screen only approach to early childhood education over the COVID-19 pandemic.
About KidX Classbox:
KidX Classbox allows children to use physical toys to interact with online learning. To use KidX Classbox, download the app to either your iPad, Android tablet or smart TV, then interact with the real videos on-screen by placing objects on the pad.
KidX blends the best of online learning with offline play allowing children to learn any time anywhere. KidX combines traditional Montessori practices and decades of science and child surrounding brain development plus the latest technologies in learning to merge offline and online education for young children.
Components:
Here is what is needed to experience the full enjoyment and benefits.
App downloads to iPad, Android Tablets or Smart TVs. Hardware Pad and Rods allow offline interaction with online lessons.
Montessori Rods allow children to learn through concrete touch, common sense and logic rather than through abstract route memorization. It allows for step-by-step child-centred learning while also helping to develop their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. By using the rods, a child can take an abstract concept like “length” and make it concrete by holding it in their hands.
Brain Science & Artificial Intelligence:
Evidence and research have shown children from 3 to 8 learn best through exploratory hands-on learning with interactions with actual people. By combining AI with brain science, we are able to build a developmentally appropriate experience personalized for each user. Memorization and swiping on the screen might be appropriate for adults and teenagers, but that same task is developmentally inappropriate for a 3 year old. We achieve results by using interactive real videos with real actors that respond to physical hands-on play.
KidX blends the best of online learning with offline play allowing children to learn anytime, anywhere. KidX combines decades of science around child brain development and the latest technologies in learning to merge offline and online education for young children. The hardware pad was designed after a penguin which was top voted animal designed based on a consumer polls of 1,000 kids. The hardware pad can detect toys that are integrated into our platform. We started with the Montessori rods sets and took off from there. The penguin pad is extremely durable and can even resist a few light spills or light rain. It’s easy to wipe it down if some fingerprints or food gets on it. And yes, the team have tested it with a small sample group so it can be picked up and dropped and thrown around a bit if your toddler uses it in a way it wasn’t exactly intended.
KidX teaches math, brain training, and logical thinking for children 3 to 8. The content draws from early education research, brain science and Montessori. Research on children’s engagement has shown children are most engaged with content that relates to real-world activities. The interactive videos incorporate this.
So how does it work ?:
The KidX device is simple to use. Simply turn it on, connect to your tablet, phone, or smart TV via Bluetooth and start learning (and playing!) Online lessons also prompt a child for offline interaction.
Step 1: Connect the hardware pad to iPad, phone, computer or smart tv.
Step 2: Download App
Step 3: Adult or Child chooses a learning game.
Step 4: Interact with the on-screen prompts.
Step 5: Feel the benefits of online and offline learning.
To grasp the concept of numbers, the team chose to use the Montessori rods. It allows children to be introduced to numbers in a real concrete way, they realize 10 is bigger than 1, and three 1 rods make 3. This is far superior than abstract math memorization that is traditionally taught where children just memorize number symbols. The app is great for math, brain training, Physical & Mental stimulation just to name a few. The programs are filled with stimulating materials that promote children’s exploration of their senses. They understand that each child is unique, so their games adapt to the abilities of the children. From infancy, your child will be exposed to many forms of language and immersed in an environment rich in language and literacy.
While a toddler, your child begins to develop the core skills needed for academic and lifelong success. As children, your child’s education will be supplemented to build the reading, language, literacy and mathematics foundation for higher education. These games are filled with activities that stimulate logic, reasoning, spatial, temporal areas of the developing brain through a developmentally appropriate curriculum.
The Science Behind KidX:
KidX uses a cross-section of many proven learning styles and methods:
STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math are knowledge that children must acquire to succeed in the future world. Our program was developed with educators and teachers in the field of traditional public schools.
Cognitive– Foundations for future success are a set of cognitive skills that control attention, impulse control, and working memory. Our program targets these executive function skills, and was developed with cognitive and neuroscientists based on research and studies from the center for developing children at Harvard and the National Institute of Health.
Montessori – Montessori believe every child is born with a “mathematical mind” and that their natural tendency of the mind can have a concrete grasp of numerical concepts. We follow this method by teaching concrete to abstract using Montessori toys. The math curriculum developed with Montessori trainers.
Logic – Developed with concepts from Jean Piaget’s research. Jean Piaget organized children’s cognitive development in four stages, where logical thinking is developed in the concrete operational stage during ages 7 to 11. Pieget believed it is through a child’s actions that relate to the world which develop their cognitive development. Our content targets these experiences and helps to accelerate the logical thinking approaches by 4 years.
The creators have done a lot of work already but they want an inspiring community to make KidX Classbox even better. And this is where you come in! You will be the first customers to help drive the final version of the product. Besides the financial support, they need your input on making this the best experience ever. This means commenting on the UI, app experience, character dialogues, video content and much more.
Risks and challenges:
The creators of kidX Classbox know the hardware is hard, but the bright side is they have experience. They have been working with hardware partners that have delivered millions of products for the last two years and already have the prototype hardware designs done, now it’s just bringing it to production scale.
The manufacturing process is complicated and has many unforeseen complications and challenges. The good news is that the team will be on the ground at each step of the process working day and night, doing their best to deliver on their promise.
As they are blending online and offline, there are possible delays in the software side as well, that range from apple store approval to bugs in code. But this is what the team does best.
For more information, and to help fund this amazing campaign, check out their kickstarter page here.
