It can be hard to connect with family, especially if you live across the country from each other. In the past decade video calls and social media have made keeping track of family and friends who live far away just a little bit more accessible. However, it can be difficult to keep young children engaged in long Facetime or Zoom calls. They want to run off and play and that can be disappointing for grandparents. What if there was an app that could help you find fun things to do on facetime and develop a deeper relationship with the little ones you love, even if you live far away?
Introducing Kinoo
Kinoo is an app developed by the same people who created the educational games you know your children already love: LeapFrog, LeapPad, and LivingBooks. They collaborated with minds from Pixar, Highlights, and more to create an app that helps families connect and play virtually.
With Kinoo, Facetime calls involving young children typically last 10 times longer than traditional phone or Facetime calls. Young children typically don’t have a very large attention span. When they are forced to sit and stare at a screen they wiggle and squirm. They aren’t interested in “adult” conversations. But, with the fun features on Kinoo you can be a part of their lives by playing fun games together. Your grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, will be just as engaged as if you were right there in the room playing with them.
Kinoo includes an app membership you are able to share with your family at no extra cost and an interactive wand you can ship to your grandchild so they can be a part of the fun from wherever they are. New activities are added every week, so you can be sure the child in your life will be looking forward to your next virtual adventure.
Fun In App Activities to Try Out Together
Unlike traditional screen time, Kinoo is interactive fun for the family to enjoy together. It is about connection, learning, and bonding. Even at its most basic level Kinoo will help facilitate conversation between you and the little one’s in your life. It prompts fun and open ended questions that are engaging and fun for both adults and children.
If you want to spice it up a bit more here are some other fun ways you can use kinoo to connect with your little one’s:
- Puzzles – put together a virtual jigsaw puzzle together or play a fun memory based card game. Create a sense of teamwork between you and the children in your life, even from the other side of the country.
- Baking– who doesn’t love making cookies with Grandma? Play a virtual baking game with the magic of the Kinoo wand. Through motion capture the wand will appear on-screen as a whisk or spatula. Have fun making virtual cookies and real life memories.
- Sports – create the memory of playing ball from the other side of the world. The Kinoo wand can become the bat the child uses to hit the ball you virtually throw. Play a traditional game together in a new and interactive way.
- Fishing – get your grandchildren excited to come visit you at the lake this summer by virtually teaching them how to fish on Kinoo. The wand becomes the line as you catch fish who reveal fun facts as they are brought to the surface.
- Storytelling – everyone remembers having stories read to them before bedtime as a child. Help create those core memories for the children in your life by sharing stories on Kinoo. Children look forward to connecting through story. Find fun ways to incorporate them in adventure stories you create together!
- Adventure and Explore – with Kinoo’s motion capture technology you can take your grandchildren on epic adventures to the moon! They will giggle and laugh with you when they see your faces in astronaut suits. Or take a more relaxing visit to the beach and spend the day building sand castles. These interactive virtual environments help the little ones become a part of a shared adventure no matter where in the world you are.
- Draw – coloring and drawing is a great way to engage a child’s imagination. With Kinoo it’s easier than ever to do this together from afar since the app makes it easy to see the other’s work. Follow instructions and find both of your inner Picassos.
Time Together is Invaluable
However you decide to use Kinoo it will help you create strong bonds with the little minds in your life in authentic ways. No longer will you have to rely on brief holiday visits and vacations. Now you can easily visit their living room and play beside the children in your life everyday no matter how far away you live.