In 1996 Wild Planet launched a product in their Investigate Nature line called the Supersonic Ear. During initial testing, kids used the toy to hear birds and insects. But through usability testing, the company discovered that kids had started using the toy to pretend they were secret agents. Recognizing how much fun they were having playing this way, led Wild Planet to begin exploring the spy play pattern.
For generations children have been fascinated with playing unstructured games and creating “pretend” situations that involve spying and pursuing, hiding and escaping. While playing spy was not a new concept, the play pattern was lacking the contemporary gear to properly equip kids for their pretend spy missions. Extensive research with kids determined what kinds of powers they wanted to enhance their spy games and led to Wild Planet’s first spy-specific product, the Spy Tool Kit.
The investigative play patterns that Spy Gear supports also contain pivotal elements in a child’s social and cognitive development. As part of a socio-dramatic play pattern, where a child undertakes a role and elaborates it in cooperation with at least one other player, research suggests that skills such as logical reasoning, attention span, memory and reflective thinking are enhanced. While younger children are content with substituting props from around the house (like paper towel rolls as periscopes), older children crave something “real” to enhance their play experience.

Wild Planet’s Spy Gear toys are designed to enrich children’s play. The stylized accessories are engaging to look at and fun to wear. Bright LED lights attached to blue-tinted goggles allow kids to see in the dark, kids unassumingly snap pictures with a digital camera attached to stylish sunglasses, and a video camera attached to an RC vehicle enables kids to remain hidden while watching real-time video on a private headset. The obviousness of the toys helps enhance the play experience while making the toys neither secret nor invasive. The realistic technology features on the toys provide skill-development challenges as well as a rich play experience.

The lesson learned from the creation of this high tech line of toys is that imagination always fuels play. Open-ended games, role-playing devices, and social interaction with other kids enhance the fun. Technology is only as good as the game.

By Cori Burns of Wild Planet. Visit Cori and some great new toys at the Sandbox Summit Exhibition.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 15th, 2007 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Gaming. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.