New Children’s Games Combine Technology and Reality
PBS experiments with bringing the Sesame Street concept in the 21st Century. So, if television gave us Cookie monster, what will AR give our kids?
Last month, children’s media giant PBS Kids, part of the Public Broadcasting Service, began testing games that use “augmented reality,” or computer-generated content that is combined with images from the real world.
PBS rolled out a prototype game late last year with its “Dinosaur Train” series. Children can print out a picture of a dinosaur egg and manipulate it in front of a webcam to make the egg “hatch” onscreen. PBS is also testing augmented reality games that use mobile devices, including one targeted at preschoolers about a dinosaur dig where children find, sort and measure virtual bones. Another “Dinosaur Train” game that merges technology and reality lets children and their parents use GPS-enabled devices to find “geocaches”—boxes that are hidden at specific coordinates and contain dinosaur-themed material.
Games that combine technology and reality could have several benefits, researchers say. They can help keep children active, and working in the real world may help spark children’s imagination. PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are using part of a $72 million grant from the U.S. Education Department to test whether augmented-reality games can help young children with skills like sorting and measuring.
Related articles
- Games Link Tech, Reality (online.wsj.com)
- Dinosaur Train on PBS (makingtimeformommy.com)
- New Children’s Games Combine Technology and Reality (voices.allthingsd.com)
