The Most Important Key to Constructive and Creative Playtime

In this blog post, I'll point out the most important thing that makes an app creative and constructive.

Parents are often quite nervous about kids using an iPad or other tablet. The reason being, we have been conditioned to think of TV as a waste of time, where you just sit in front of a screen and absorb without actually doing anything. Eventually you enter a trance-like state and your brain turns to mush.

This may not be completely inaccurate. Of course, we can be careful about which TV shows our kids (and us adults also) watch to make sure that the information being absorbed at least is useful instead of being completely vapid (Snooki, I'm looking at you). The question still is, if you have access to an iPad, iPhone, or Android, is it worth it to download some great apps for your kids to learn stuff with?

The answer is that tablets are no longer just a one way street the way TVs are. While there is still the option of putting on a video and absorbing information, interactivity means that you can create and innovate. What are some good guidelines to know if you are playing in a way that fosters creativity? Specifically, how can we determine if apps are open to creativity?


Flexible Rules

Apps should not have rigid parameters. Although some rules and structure needs to be in place to guide users to a place where they can make something, there needs to be flexibility to rules to allow kids to explore. How can an app inspire creativity if all the possibilities have been thought of by the apps creator?

Here is one great example: Go Car Go

Go car go is a physics game that allows users to choose from a selection of parts and put together their own car. They then race the car across the screen past obstacles.

There are rules, and a goal in place. There is gravity, the wheels need to be touching the ground for the car to move, and the goal is to move past the entire course to the finish line. The design of the actual car is up to you to make. There is not just one way to go past the obstacles, different designs will work, the door is open to creativity.

When the door is open to creativity, you can forge your own path, and have fun doing it!