How many times have you seen a child staring blankly at a tablet or getting frustrated with an iPad? If you give your child a tablet to look at, then I'm not judging at all. I know lots of parents struggle to find time to brush their teeth sometimes without the added help of Bluey or Baby Shark, but they're just not child-friendly devices.
I've seen my girlfriend's daughter furiously trying to figure out how to add extra levels to a dinosaur game she plays on her grandad's iPad and wondering why she can't access all of the locked content that you have to pay for. She's too young to have any concept of money, and as soon as something pops up over her gameplay like an advert or an email, it leaves her feeling dejected and confused. Hand swipes make the gameplay disappear altogether, and while the gameplay is bright and engaging, it's not stimulating children's brains in the right way.
Designers Royal Tyagi, Aarna Mishra, Anoushka Sadana, and Anshit Mathur have come up with a solution that is much more child-friendly and actually promotes learning in a way that children connect with - Puzzle Pals. They've done away with the bright and erratic visuals of iPad games and instead looked towards the design and style of the Game Boy for a new interactive game that is set to fully engage young gamers in the right way.
Every part of the design of Puzzle Pals, from the curved sides to the large buttons, is designed to be easy and non-frustrating for little hands. It's visually striking too, giving me the same feeling as I get when I look at ModRetro's M64toy-like. They look fun and toy like, as though the Game Boy fused itself with an iPod Video and the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn 'Lil Gamer.
So let's talk about the games that your children will be playing. Animal Memory and Shape Pattern boast three different difficulty levels so that your little gamers experience a gradual increase in their skills. They can start off easy and then push themselves when things naturally become a little too easy. It's exactly the same as something like God of War having multiple difficulties, although I'm 36 and I can't play that game on anything but normal without getting frustrated. Puzzle Pals does away with that notion entirely and allows kids to choose how easy or difficult their gameplay is and lets them progress when they're ready.
There's a cool snippet of information that you get when you get something right. You might think that learning isn't exactly a reward for solving a puzzle or completing a challenge, but you're not a kid. Portrayed in a fun way, these little facts enrich children's minds and provide talking points, all without distracting elements or text messages from your mates about getting drunk at the weekend popping up on your iPad.
And when your child gets something wrong in the games, Puzzle Pals just gives the right answer and lets them move to the next section. It's all very gentle; there's no chance of you giving your child this handheld and then seeing it fly through the air a moment later when they get bored or frustrated at getting something wrong. It promotes learning in an environment where you can't really get anything wrong, like playing a game of MYST, just on a child-friendly handheld, all while keeping their interests piqued and allowing them to be inquisitive.
As of this moment, Puzzle Pals is still a concept, but I'm looking forward to seeing it in greater detail and hopefully putting it to the parents in my life for them to have a trial with their children. Anything that promotes gentle brain stimulation and isn't bright and erratic is bound to help regulate children, meaning you can do the washing and make the evening meal while they're learning along the way!
