Play and Learn with EDURINO

Having been a teacher for fifteen years, I’ve long been wary of the effects of screentime. I’ve read all about the no-tech schools the children of Silicon Valley attend, and I’ve seen, first-hand, decreasing attention spans over my time in the classroom.

Consequently, as a parent, I’ve kept screentime to a minimum. Doesn’t sound like the start of a glowing review for a digital app for children, does it? I was pleasantly surprised, however, by EDURINO, an educational app aimed at four to eight year olds. Its creators have thought about parents like me; the usage is limited by the parent, who has to set the screentime the child is allowed before the game can even commence, there are no in-app purchases, and it is ad-free. EDURINO has been developed by an expert team of educators alongside game developers and graphic artists – and it shows.

There are five options to choose from – Word Games with Niki, Numbers and Shapes with Robin, Coding Skills with Luca, Creativity and Design with Yuki and, the newest addition, Plants and Wildlife with Asa. Two new figurines are also going to be released soon – Body Parts with Ari and Emotions with Leo. We opted for Word Games with Niki for my four year old and Early Coding for my seven year old.

My youngest son used the starter set for his word games app. This set encompasses the figurine which unlocks the world of learning, the ergonomic pen which improves pen grip, and access to the learning app itself which has 40+ games to choose from (once you have the starter set, you simply purchase the figurine to explore the next subject). Once my son had decided upon what his avatar would be called and what it would look like (he needed a cap and “cool hair”), he visited his first island of learning. Each island has a focus (vehicles, animals, colours, food) and has five levels to complete before the child can move to the next island. Each activity focuses on a combination of word recognition, riddles and word puzzles, listening skills, and comprehension skills, all whilst practising fine motor and handwriting skills through the use of the EDURINO pen. In one activity, my son had to practise tracing numbers precisely; lack of precision meant he couldn’t progress to the next number. In another, he had to use his memory to repeat a piece of music through tapping the correct instruments that lengthened each time; I gave most of the activities a go to write this piece and I have to admit to finding this one rather difficult – a four year old will certainly be challenged!

My son in Year 3 practised Early Coding with Luca. I realise I’m biased (!) but he finds Mathematics and Coding relatively easy and so neither one of us found the app quite challenging enough for him at this stage in his school life. That’s not to say he didn’t enjoy using the app or that he didn’t cement his understanding of some key concepts in coding. Early Coding focuses on systemic thinking, algorithmisation, logic and complexity, with activities to help children understand the basics of computer programming. In one activity, for instance, my son had to provide Binky the robot with amusing aids to overcome an increasingly difficult obstacle course to practise the skill of algorithmisation.

Overall, the app was a hit with both children. For the past week, both have happily skipped half of their television time to be able to use their respective EDURINO figurines for ten minutes each morning. They’ve both enjoyed the praise the app gives out and the opportunity to make updates to their avatars as they progress through the islands. Each app has lots of free play activities so reaching the last island doesn’t mean the end of the game. When the child is a minute away from their allotted screen time decided by his or her parent, they are given a gentle warning by the app, which, as any parent knows, can be the difference between a meltdown and a rational conversation with a small human. EDURINO – screen time I am happy to authorise!

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