LaunchPad toys is making educational games, not Angry Birds-like ‘digital pacifiers’

I lose a little faith in the next generation every time I see a young kid, eyes glued to an iPad, fingers furiously tapping away at evil green pigs. It’s enough to make me crave the good ol’ days before the App Store was invented.

Entrepreneur Andy Russell believes most apps and games for children aren’t nurturing learning and are as addictive as candy. He refers to Angry Birds as a “digital pacifier.” So Russell’s company, LaunchPad Toys, is developing games that are grounded in “constructionist learning frameworks” — an insidery term for learning-by-creating.