With summer holidays approaching, we’ve been making plans to travel. So while my husband and I are zeroing in on the plan, we normally get the kids to do some research on the names on our list of places to visit. They should know something about a country before we visit it and it’s a fun way to teach them new things. So this year I’ve got them a product – a toy that’s going to make globetrotting a whole lot better. Intrigued? Read on. I’ve bought them the Orboot by Play Shifu.
What Is PlayShifu?
PlayShifu specialises in innovative Augmented Reality (AR) based educational games which are aimed at children aged 2-10 years.
The force behind PlayShifu:
Founded by Stanford GSB and IIT Kharagpur alumni Vivek Goyal and Dinesh Advani, who are parents themselves, PlayShifu began its journey in mid-2016. PlayShifu uses Augmented Reality to create interactive 4D toys engage, entertain and educate children.
They wanted to boost creativity and imagination in kids by teaching them things while keeping them entertained at the same time. To play these STEM games you need Android or iOS mobiles or tablets. They have a number of games like Shifu Wildlife, Shifu Ride and Shifu Cosmos to name a few.
What is Shifu Orboot?
A simple globe that’s got a makeover as a smart toy! Shifu Orboot – the Smart Globe uses the globe and an app on your mobile or tab to transport you around the world sitting right at home using Augmented Reality.
It comes with a real globe, a passport, sticker book, stamps and a free app which is available on iOS and Andriod. You should be aware that if you are looking at showing your child exact political boundaries on the globe, the Shifu Orboot doesn’t show that. But the globe does give you a fair sense of where each country is in relation to another.
The things your kids can learn from Shifu Orboot include about
- Countries
- Cultures
- Animals
- Monuments
- Invention
- Cuisines
- Weather
How Does it Work?
Choose a category you want information about and place your app on tab or mobile over that. The app prompts you to scan a small area of the globe to reveal AR items on the screen. It depends which category you downloaded, what you will see the information pop up on your screen. There will be a voice telling you different things about the place. Once you’re done with that the kids can scan another part of the globe and carry on travelling and learning.
What Kidsstoppress Thinks About It
- The unique passport that comes with the pack got the kids super excited. They want to carry it with them when they go on their travels and add stickers to it for all the places we visit. The boarding pass that you get is just like real thing. So that gets the kids excited!
- Great hands-on learning using STEM technology.
- They are learning so many fun facts regarding different places and there is a quiz at the end of each section to check how much they have learnt and remember.
- There’s a security question every time they scan something new and parental assistance is required. Also, you need to sync different categories, like animals or monuments or cultures, to activate when you scan the globe. So the initial set up is time-consuming.
- It’s an app and it does take time to download, so your child could get impatient waiting for everything to download.
- It’s rated as suitable for 4 years +, but some of the information can be way too much for them to understand. So you will need to keep an eye on what they are doing.
If you’re looking at buying it, you can click here
This post in association with Play Shifu
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Janani S Koushik
KSP Team
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Dr Kamruddin Ezzy
