Toca Boca, maker of children’s iOS applications, is releasing two new apps aimed at sparking kids’ imaginations. The first app comes out today.
Many parents are concerned that children spend too much time indoors, playing video games and not stretching their creative right brain. Toca Boca’s applications require children to create a game. Apps such as “playing grocery store check out” act as only one element in the bigger picture of going to the store, picking out your food and then checking out. The apps also allow for dual play.
“Every time you take it out, your imagination takes you to something new, it creates longevity,” said Bjorn Jeffery, chief executive of Toca Boca, in an interview with VentureBeat.
Today’s release is a play on the company’s most popular app, Hair Salon. Instead of the traditional characters, children will be able to comb, cut, color and style Santa’s hair and a Christmas Tree’s limbs. The app is available on both the iPhone and iPad and is free for the holidays. The second app is a completely new game called Toca Kitchen. In this app, children can choose a character, what food she will eat, and prepare the food. It’s an extension to playing house, or restaurant and will be released on December 15.
In order to determine whether an app will be a success, Toca Boca tests apps out up to five times on child focus groups. The company asks what is fun about the app, sees if children can interact with others using the app, and other tests. The focus groups are made up of children who are “iPad power users,” children regularly exposed to the iPad, those who are not technology-savvy, and the equilibrium to see how the app affects each group.
“Lately its domestic scenes that have some sort of procedure,” said Jeffery. “[We’re] picking up things in kids environment that they all know about, but can’t participate in.”
Toca Boca is a Swedish based company founded in 2010, and launched its first app in March 2011. Thus far the company has seen nearly 2.7 million downloads of its app suite.
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