This week I’m presenting a program all about the new opportunities for augmented reality. Since it’s the holiday season, I thought I’d cover a few of the best AR games and toys for kids.
4D Astronomy Lesson
Octagon Studios produce a series of augmented reality educational tools. I picked up the Space 4D Flash Cards. Viewed through the app, the heavenly bodies become 3D models in the air, and you can spin them with your finger. I liked that you could place a number of cards next to each other and call all the augmented reality apparitions up at the same time.
Coloring Books that Come Alive
I would have learned to color in the lines if I had had Color Alive when I was a kid. The Crayola app lets you scan pages from the Color Alive coloring books, and the characters come to life. You can add backgrounds, get them to animate and make coloring lots more fun. At first I wasn’t going to bother coloring, but then I couldn’t resist. Note that the app takes the suggestions of colors from the page to animate the characters. I tried adding a wedding ring to my guy, and it didn’t translate to the animated character.
  
High-Tech Bedtime Stories
Goodnight Lad is available on Amazon now, but I was part of the original Kickstarter campaign that launched this augmented reality story book. The characters come alive on every page, and booster packs add to the story.
Backpacks that Talk Back
This is the silliest thing yet, but it sure is a lot of fun. Zipit Monstars are school supplies with monster faces at the zippers. With the help of your app, the monsters come alive. You can decorate them, record your messages and hear them gab away. Here are a couple of the “outfits” I dressed my monstar up in.
