What if your child’s favourite toy could teach them?

[mariaku]

I have two little ones - aged 3 and 6. I work in technology, so over the holidays I built them something: a small stuffed owl that talks to them in a cartoon-ish woodland character voice, answers their endless questions, guides them to learn [what i want them to learn], and tells them bedtime stories woven around what they’re curious about.
I have a companion app and control everything - the topics they can discuss, the tone, etc. I can see exactly what they’ve talked about and how they’re progressing too.
They’re obsessed with it. But what really stopped me was when someone from their school messaged asking where I’d got it - apparently the kids had been talking about it.
I have a good corporate career and never thought about starting a business. But I’m wondering if this could actually be something - and I’d love honest opinions from parents outside of my bubble before I do anything about it.
Would you actually use something like this? and would you pay for it (if it was a business i'm thinking there would be a price for the toy and then a small monthly subscription for new content and updates)?
What would concern you most - the toy saying something inappropriate, your kid losing interest quickly, or something else?

Would really appreciate all your thoughts. I’d rather hear the hard truths now than later.
Maria

It should never be about what the toy can do. It should always be about what the child can do with the toy.

Children are far better off learning from safe objects in their homes and the world around as well as people.

This all seems very passive in terms of learning - the child receives information rather than seeks it out, tests it, explores it.

I think passing on your children's learning to technology instead of answering your questions themselves would fail those children.

Young children need to be focusing on fine motor and gross motor skills by moving around their world and being active. Communication skills should be through human interaction, not edutech.

there was an article just today about how AI toys are not appropriate for children

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyg4wx6nxgo

does your owl have an AI or chatbot inside? the problems are that you have to choose between (a) v limited topics / ideas ==> kids get bored fast or (b) wider range of topics ==> can get dangerous and unpredictable.

and the idea of a parent's app to select topics / control stuff doesn't appeal. I get my 6 year old a toy to he can play independently and I can chill for a bit. I don't want to spend time faffing about on an app and worrying about whether or not the toy is talking nonsense or having to monitor it.

It was also featured in the Today programme so you can hear Gabbo in action. It's awful! Link. Go to 1hr 25min.
Interesting that you say your gizmo is all about the DC asking questions. Part of the problem with Gabbo is that it seems that it does the questioning and doesn't really listen / engage.

Agree with above. Children need to interact with a toy in an independent way. For example when my grandchildren were young I felt that the toys you press buttons to do things were in abundance. I felt they needed as well toys that created situations for them that they instigated. So many toys were bought and then abandoned but one remained a source of interest. It was a castle that was built and soldiers had uniforms that could be taken off and changed, they had beer, weapons, horses.There was a princess and a dragon. I placed a piece of hardboard on my front room floor, put the castle on it and I painted a moat, grass etc. it covered most of the floor. The room had a stone fireplace and the game spread out. You could buy extras which we gradually did. Luckily we didn’t use that room as our main sitting room and the game continued from the age of five and continued until a younger brother who was 5 years younger took over. They never tired of it. Secondary school age was when I gradually stored all the soldiers in storage boxes and dismantled the castle. However, saw one of the grand children at the age of 14 involved in changing uniforms etc. Dolls houses, train sets, garages etc etc Let the children lead the game.

Isn't Alexa's child version an owl? So look forward to the lawsuit.

But no, I personally won't even get my son a Tonies box when I could be reading him a book.

He has a baby that he learns from and with - brushing his teeth, hair, helping him sleep and new skills. Except he uses his imagination, not a passive AI tool.

Thank you all 🙌 this is exactly the kind of feedback I was after. Just answering the questions raised below.

On the passive learning point - you're right to raise it. The owl doesn't talk at them. It only responds when the child asks something - it's entirely question-led. My 6-year-old asking "why do stars twinkle" at 8pm is what starts the conversation, not the toy. Whether that's meaningfully different from passive, I'll leave you to judge.

On the app burden - I want to be clear because I think this landed wrong. What i meant is the toy doesn't pull information from the internet - it draws from a pre-approved content library that's built into the product. Think of it like a very well-curated bookshelf. It can only discuss what's already on that shelf, as opposed to pulling things at random from the internet, which is exactly the issue with the the toys discussed in the BBC article. They are essentially connecting directly to the internet with nothing in between (absolutely horrific in my opinion, and agree with all of your comments above!)

I don't think any 'toy' or gadget should aim to replace human interaction. My kids still ask me tons of questions, I still read them books, we still play with Lego. The owl fills the gap at 6am when they're buzzing with questions and I'm half asleep 😂, and makes their play more interactive. But i understand each child and parents are different!v

Really appreciate all the feedback and thoughts. Thank you ladies. Keep the hard truths coming!

your update is helpful, but I think it might be hard to get a bookshelf big enough to keep a kid entertained. A generic system might only have 10 bits of information about penguins (my kids favourite topic), but when I know that is my kids topic I can look up more and discuss penguins for hours. will your system run out of things to say and start being repetitive?

Also, there is one final thing you need to consider. whatever you are doing at home, there will be 20 small tech companies trying to do the same and pitching to investors. you want to be pretty sure you can do it better than them!

I wouldn't buy it.
Children's toys already teach them - how to nurture, how to share, how to create, how to organise.

I think it's a shame when parents outsource the joy of sharing knowledge and wonder.

I am sorry because I don't want to be a downer. If I had to have an AI toy I'd much rather have a wise owl who can teach me birdsongs and do things like identify a flower, leaf or tree shown to them - things that a parent might not be able to do.

I would run a million miles from a product like this. I don't want my kids steeped in tech from toddlerhood on, thanks.

No. Kids don't need this. Kids need people in their lives who care about them, and the freedom to exist outside safely. Tech like this is not the answer.

Thank you all for sharing your feedback and thoughts!