Last week, I received a very mysterious invitation to attend a Disney event at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum to unveil a new initiative “powered by the imagination, creativity, and technology.” Being a big fan of all three of those things, I said yes without hesitation. Only later did I wonder: what kind of initiative would debut on an air craft carrier docked off New York City’s shores? I harbored hopes I might meet Scarlett Johansson or Robert Downey Jr. from The Avengers. I also spent a great deal of time worrying about how to dress “business casual,” something I’ve forgotten in five-and-a-half years at home with my son, Felix. I even had to google it.
The mystery continued even when I sat down in the small theater aboard the Intrepid, minutes before the proceedings got underway. The word Imagicademy ran across the screen, but a quick search yielded no information about what, exactly, the Imagicademy might be. As a video introduction played, my heart sank. Not only were no famous actors going to be in attendance, the event marked the launch of new iPad and smartphone apps for kids!
Just a few weeks ago, when I returned from a two week trip out of town only to be greeted by “When can I play on your phone, Daddy?” I had banned Felix from video games. I wasn’t simply reacting to my son’s equating of me with my iPhone. I hated how he played mindless, repetitive games like Subway Surfer and Fruit Ninja, diversions that left him in a finger-tapping daze and encouraged him to buy extensions or spin-off games. I tried finding educational games for him, or at least ones that required some thought, but had no luck. The simplest ones bored him after a short period of time, and more complicated ones required reading and computation skills that he’s still developing. When I asked around for recommendations from other parents, I heard the same: there are so many apps for kids out there, but not a single one to rave about or feel great about letting children use.
So there I was, sitting in and stewing about how, in this brave new technological world of ours the best learning toys are still simple things like crayons, papers, and wooden blocks, when a surprising thing happened. I found myself kind of getting into the presentation. In part, because the execs at Disney looked around and saw the same thing, and their solution to this problem is Imagicademy, a new brand of apps that feature familiar Disney characters in games designed to build math, literacy, science, art, and social skills. The first app, Mickey’s Magical World of Math, hits the Apple app store on Tuesday.
Just from watching the demo, you can see that how much thought went into designing a visually interesting, three-dimensional world for kids to explore, in which they can change, customize, and manipulate almost every element. Variety is the spice of imagination, and the games encourage it. Each app is actually several mini-apps packaged into one — so in Mickey’s Magical World of Math, kids can work on their shapes with Mickey, practice using a number line with Donald Duck, and count with Minnie Mouse.
A team of teachers and professors helped make sure the games inspire positive attitudes toward learning, something I appreciate as a former classroom teacher myself. The games aren’t win/lose so much as they are fun challenges in which making a mistake is simply part of the experience. This way, kids don’t feel penalized for not knowing something, instead they’re encouraged to keep at it.
What’s even cooler about Imagicademy is that you don’t just drop your child in front of it and then wonder what exactly they’re doing. A free app lets you view what your child is up to much like a portfolio gives you a sense of what she’s learning in school. The app gives tips and suggestions for how to extend their learning into the real world via activities and games that parents and kids can play together. Parents can also send digital high fives to their kids, congratulating them on their accomplishment in the game. Most digital games keep parents out of the experience, but Imagicademy’s social component lets us observe and to some extent participate, while still allowing the child autonomy and independence. This is a really awesome, unique feature.
More Imagicademy apps are on the way in 2015, along with books that take the learning experiences off screen and into a more traditional format, and a Mickey Mouse smart-toy that is absolutely futuristic — he holds conversations with children and responds to their activities within the apps. This is either creepy or wonderful, depending on your view of talking smart-toys (I’m in the former category), but there’s no denying it’s an amazing thing.
While the current slate of apps targets young kids, the presentation hinted that, with Disney brands like Star Wars and Marvel, educational games for older children that feature superhero or Jedi characters may not be far behind. I’m looking forward to those, and to finally putting an end to my confusion about what video games my son should be playing. At the unveiling, I kept hearing the word magical describe Imagicademy, and I have to agree, even for a video game skeptic like me, it looks to be just that.
Image courtesy of the author.