I have written several times about the perils of screen time and how it has had a detrimental effect on our family.
My teen has had several periods where he has been drawn in by the addictive world of gaming and it has really taken over his life.
This said though the world we live in today is driven by technology and for children to get on this is an integral part of their learning that can be hugely benificial if used in the correct way.
The people behind the fantastic new augmented reality toy-Swapbots have come up with the perfect solution to this.
Swapbots are collectable toys that through the use of augmented reality creative an amazing interactive video game that is based around a physical toy.
Swapbots are formed of a set of nine characters of which each character is made up by three interchanging blocks.
Each block has its own superpower and can be chopped and changed to make your own unique character.
This amazingly amounts to a huge seven thousand and twenty nine character combinations that can be brought to life through the free Swapbots app that is easily downloadable on your device of choice.
All the player needs to do is select their character combination, point their device at the toy and watch it come to life in front of their eyes.
From here the Swapbots can be cared for, taken on exciting adventures or pitted at battle with each other.
Many of you may worry they this is just another pull into the lost world of screen time, but as I said in reality we live in a technology driven world and this is so much more than just your run of the mill gaming app.
It encourages thier problem solving skills, allows them to use thier imagination and allows interaction with the outside world whilst using elements from the digital world.
Take a look at it in action HERE
*collaborated post
This is something that I think my 4 year old and probably my 2 year too, would love! Where can I get it??
They have not been released yet but I will keep you informed X
I’m going to have to look back for your perils of screen time. We’ve just removed the Xbox from Ethan for the last time and he’s agreed that it’s best for him to sell it. It’s taken a while to get the evidence to prove it was that causing his moods but after lent spent off and a mood transformation overnight when he returned to it – we knew it had to go.
That said, like you I still believe technology can be used positively with caution. x
It’s still a bit of an ongoing battle here but at the moment see seem to have hit a happy medium.
I really wish we hadn’t ever for one now to be honest, but he has his heart set on become a game designer now so what can you do! X