Are you a parent who wants to introduce your young kids to technology, but still feel a bit uncomfortable handing over your iPhone or iPad to their sticky little fingers?
Check out the Tinker Tablet wooden puzzle game, developed by the Seattle geeks at Tinkermite. You won’t find any batteries or lights or Wi-Fi here.
Designed for pre-schoolers, the puzzle allows kids to form common technology gadgets and components. It even has a magnetic drawing board on the front.
“Our unique design allows the puzzle pieces to form a cell phone…so kids can play with their own, just like their parents,” the company writes in its Kickstarter campaign. Tinkermite’s goal is to provide toys that are “low-tech play, but high-tech learning.”
“We don’t expect kids to understand the purpose of a CPU, or any of the technical components. But at some level the kids will begin to associate these concepts in a group … and know they do fit together for something. Just like after repetition of “moo-cow” we eventually learn how milk gets to the grocery store.”
The Tinkermite team is promoting the puzzle game on Kickstarter, with 85 backers who’ve contributed $5,781 toward a $15,000 goal. A $50 donation will get contributors a Tinker Tablet, while a $100 pledge gets them the puzzle along with magnets, T-shirt and stickers. The team includes Jacob Sullivan, Kenji Yoshinari, Tony Bundy and Nick Peters.
The idea of the tablet comes as Toys R Us gets ready to sell its very own $150 Android-based tablet. Dubbed the Tabeo, it comes with 50 pre-installed apps.
So, what would you prefer for your kids: The Tinker or the Tabeo?
