Fun offline

It might seem counter-intuitive to design an iPad game that doesn’t work by tapping, swiping or speaking, but Yibu uses the device as a way of persuading children to engage with their surroundings.

Information from five wooden blocks embedded with sensors – wind, sound, direction, temperature and light – influences the environment on the screen. To save a polar bear from rising temperatures and melting ice, children have to be creative in using the blocks, for example by lowering the temperature by placing the appropriate sensor in the fridge.

This merging of the physical and digital worlds in children’s play is something that toymaker Fischer-Price predicted we will see more of in its concept video The Future of Parenting.