Tag: Child education

Singapore – Chocolate brand Kinder, part of the line of confectionery company Ferrero, has launched a new mobile application called ‘Applaydu’ that utilizes augmented reality (AR) to bring Kinder toys to life. 

Since the creation of Kinder, it has been engaging kids with toy surprises inside its egg-shaped packaging, wheretoys may range from toy cars to figurines of animals and characters. Through the application, it aims to deliver kids an immersive new experience. 

The app, dedicated to children from four to nine years old will feature environments, characters, and stories that are thought and built to spark their imagination and stimulate their ability to learn new things. Users of ‘Applaydu’ can enjoy games, interactive stories, activities, and a lot more.

Furthermore, the ‘Applaydu’ mobile app also provides a family-friendly, safe and controlled environment, that is free of ads nor in-app purchases, as well as parental control features such as activities report and adaptive difficulty to ensure a complete peace of mind for parents. It is designed to be used with the whole family, however, parents can rest assured that appropriate safeguards are in place to guarantee that children can enjoy themselves securely.

“By sparking the imagination of children, and uniting adults and children in play and enjoyment, we believe that Applaydu can play an important role in helping ensure that a happy child today will be a better adult tomorrow,” said Emiliano Laricchiuta, global head of Kinder Products with Surprise.

The app was developed by game developer Gameloft, and has sought the expertise from the Oxford University’s Department of Education in coming up with a set of guidelines to help Kinder’s development of the app, aimed at helping children’s progression by creating and developing a game that utilizes and develops cognitive skills including mathematics, motor skills, reading, and writing, as well as memory.

“We are really proud to partner with Kinder to make this project a reality. It is incredible to bring our 20 years of gaming expertise to the Kinder brand and their beloved toys in order to craft an app that brings a whole new layer of fun to families, by merging physical and digital worlds in order to expand the traditional play experience,” said Alexandre Tan, VP brand partnerships and advertising at Gameloft.

Applaydu can be downloaded now for free from the App Store or from Google Play.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The Hong Leong Bank (HLB) has launched a new digital banking initiative that encourages children to be conscious about the environment, while practicing money saving tips.

The initiative, aptly called ‘Earth Hero’, teaches children how their choices can have an impact on the planet. With tasks completed, children earn opportunities to plant virtual trees. For every 20 virtual trees achieved, HLB will plant one real tree. The child will receive a certificate with GPS coordinates of the real tree planted in their name. 

Furthermore, the newest initiative falls under the umbrella of mobile banking platform HLB Pocket Connect, a child-friendly mobile banking app which was launched last August. The new initiative is also linked to an eco-friendly reforestation mission targeting to plant 2,500 trees in Borneo in partnership with social enterprise APE Malaysia.

“We are cognizant of our role as a financial institution in creating and sustaining a vibrant ecosystem of communities and the environment. We are very proud to be the first bank in Malaysia and the region to steer the younger generation towards being financially savvy and environmentally conscious through HLB Pocket Connect. There is good traction in this app’s uptake and view it as a good opportunity to gamify financial education with tangible rewards that benefits the environment, with parental guidance and in partnership with an eco-social enterprise,” said Domenic Fuda, group managing director and CEO of HLB.

On the other hand, Galvin Yeo, HLB’s general manager for personal financial services for deposits and digital said, “Children are true native digital and technology users, and are interested to learn through an interactive mobile platform that gamifies engaging activities and tasks. Through HLB Pocket Connect, we are able to seamlessly incorporate an environmental literacy element, teaching children to cultivate the understanding and responsibility in taking care of the environment and the value of money, with parents’ help. More importantly, we are proud to think outside the financial institution box in delivering a truly innovative, fun and relevant digital banking platform for their lifestyle.”