Smash-a-Ball is a Wearable Electronic Game for Visually Impaired Kids
Laura McQuarrie — April 7, 2015 — Life-Stages
References: kickstarter & techcrunch
Nadia Guevara and Pedro Bori, a pair of educational psychologists from Mexico teamed up to create Smash-a-Ball, a wearable toy that fosters cognitive development in children with vision impairments. The game consists of a few parts, including a backpack, a wrist-worn band and a board that provides tactile feedback. As Bori describes: "When the child is wearing the backpack he will get tactile stimulus from the backpack in a way that he/she has to mimic with the main board, as fast and precise possible."
With components that give feedback and stimuli for pattern matching, this helps to improve a child's memory, reaction time, spatial awareness and confidence. In a child's later life, these skills are vital for adapting to unfamiliar environments and situations.
With components that give feedback and stimuli for pattern matching, this helps to improve a child's memory, reaction time, spatial awareness and confidence. In a child's later life, these skills are vital for adapting to unfamiliar environments and situations.
Trend Themes
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Wearable Tactile Education — Creating wearables with not just visual, but tactile stimuli to aid learning in children with disabilities.
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Electronic Toys for Inclusion — Designing games and toys with electronic components that remove barriers to play and empower children with disabilities.
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Assistive Technology for Play — Developing technologies that foster cognitive development and enable play in children with disabilities.
Industry Implications
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Toy Manufacturing — Innovating in the toy manufacturing industry to accommodate children with disabilities and provide more inclusive play experiences.
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Assistive Technology — Providing cognitive and sensory assistive technology for persons with disabilities to advance the field of disability inclusion.
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Education Technology — Incorporating touch and feedback in education-technology-enabled learning tools to promote cognitive development in children with disabilities.
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