A 'Storm' Of Creativity

Some of the best learning experiences—and some of the best play experiences—are when kids are engaged with designing, creating and inventing.” So says Mitchel Resnick, chairman of the Playful Invention Company (PICO), for whom it's a guiding principle. PICO distributes the PicoCricket, a tiny electronics invention kit for ages 8 and up that aims to spark creative thinking; its design was born out of a collaboration between Lego and Resnick, a Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab's Lifelong Kindergarten group—the same efforts that produced the Lego Mindstorms robotics kits.

“The PicoCricket grows out of the same research tradition as Mindstorms, but with greater emphasis on artistic expression to appeal to girls as well as boys,” PICO's marketing director Cindy Obey tells Playthings. The Montreal-based company's tiny computer can add motion, light and sound to any structure, sculpture or object through sensors and other devices that kids program to react, interact and communicate.

The original PicoCricket Kit is available at www.picocricket.com and through several retailers; it includes the PicoCricket computer; motor; motor board; sound box; beamer; colored lights; LED display; sound, light, touch and resistance sensors; software for Mac and PC, a USB cable; soft craft materials; Lego bricks and 10 project placemats with themed sample activities to get kids started. A Workshop kit for 10 to 15 kids to work on projects at the same time (ideal for large play groups and educators), was also introduced this year.

The original kit with placemats (in such themes as A Day in the Park, Smart House, Kinetic Sculptures, Celebrations, Wearables, Musical Instruments, Sound Machines, Painting Machines, Chain Reactions and Insects) is the company's flagship product, Obey says, noting, “PicoCricket users can build on these themes and ideas or create new ones.”

“We think there's not enough support and opportunities and materials—whether it's in schools or in the toy store—for kids to be designing and creating, so we have a variety of different projects to allow kids to create with all sorts of different tools and media,” Resnick says. “As children create PicoCricket projects, they learn to think creatively, analyze systematically and work collaboratively—skills that are critical to success in today's society.”

Resnick says, “One of the places where our biggest efforts are right now is Scratch, which is this software we've developed that allows kids to make their own interactive stories, games, animations and then share them with one another on the Web.” There are now more than 100,000 projects on the Scratch website (http://scratch.mit.edu), Resnick says, including “remixes” of projects in which kids use features from one project in another of their own design.

As expected, the PicoCricket kits have so far had the best reception among educators, following in the footsteps of Mindstorms, a trend Resnick welcomes.

“We're very excited how Mindstorms has gotten out to the world. There's been more than a million kits sold,” he says. “On the other hand, we also see that Mindstorms has been used primarily for kids making robots … that's great for some kids, but not all kids are interested in [that]. So we developed the Cricket to support a broader range of projects.” Another goal was making the kits easier to use so younger kids could get involved with much simpler projects, Resnick says.

Kids have made moving sculptures in the shape of everything from dancing flowers to butterflies to fireflies that light up in the dark, Resnick says, noting that he hopes the kit's popularity will grow significantly to fill a void in the learning/science toy category.

“Too often with all different types of electronic toys, the toys themselves do amazing things, they're really sophisticated, they can do a million different activities … but is it really engaging kids in creative activities?” Resnick says, adding, “Rather than asking what the toy can do for the child, we should be asking, What can the child do with the toy? I think that's a really important message to get out there, and in my mind I think it's going to lead to the best play activity.”