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Of all the things we are drawn to on the Web, none is more important nor down-right cute than the stuff kids love. The Internet was and is the most revolutionary education and communication tool ever devised, but somehow the very people who should be engaged most - are often overlooked. It is about time for Web users and business developments to take better note of children’s needs. What could be more appropriate?

A company called LeapFrog not only produces some of the finest educational toys for kids, but is also reaching out to parents and kids from both ends of the PC/Internet perspective. The company has introduced a dedicated online portal called Learning Path*, from which kids and parents are introduced to the PC world via award winning innovations like Clickstart for the home and now LeapFrog Tag – a fantastic reading tool for early readers. LeapFrog can teach us alot about exactly how to use the digital realm in our daily lives for the greatest benefit, and how traditional business can traverse this realm.

On The Ground Technology

Web 2.0 has been about innovation and the exciting use of technology to our benefit, but honestly we all know by now that much of the hype has been unfulfilled. LeapFrog and companies like it are actually combining technologies like the PC, sophisticated imaging and the Web as a conduit to enhance possibility for children. I like to think of this kind of business development as “realized” potential. Web 3.0 seems just around the corner, and just such innovation and vision are at the heart of the next generation of developments – everything else is simply air when you get down to it.

Connecting The Dots

LeapFrog’s Clickstart is essentially a first computer for kids designed so that parents who want to introduce their child to a world of computer learning can easily introduce the digital realm (the real one) to their children. ClickStart plugs directly into a television, turning the family TV into their child’s very own learning computer. With a wide range of software from Bob the Builder, Thomas & Friends and Toy Story to Dora the Explorer and Disney Princesses, ClickStart engages children to build key computing and pre-school skills like; keyboard familiarity, mousing, phonics skills, counting and more.

LeapFrog designers thought of everything in developing this cool tool for little ones including making the mouse child size. I admire attention to detail always and LeapFrog appears to be tuned to this fundamental aspect of excellence. Connecting the dot that is a child’s mind with the appropriate ones that reside on the Web is the new frontier of human development from an educational point of view. The refined beauty and sweetness of this toy’s content and interface is exemplary in this regard.

Putting The Smart Into Technology

LeapFrog’s award winning* new Tag Reading System, will take learning to read to a whole new level. The Tag Reading System consists of an electronic reader which transforms story time for kids into a rich and rewarding multimedia event. Tag’s built-in camera reads words and pages aloud, while characters and pictures make noises to enhance the child’s learning experience. revolutionary Tag technology helps children learn to read, develop their vocabulary and learn how to spell, through games and activities from within the books in the Tag library.

Through Tag’s infrared reading technology kids and their parents can experience a unique interaction via Learning Path*. Here parents can monitor their children’s reading progress, while their kids enjoy rewards and fun activities designed to enhance and effectiveness of their experience. Here is the current list of Tag titles kids can enjoy:

* Disney Pixar Cars

* Disney Princess

* Kung Fu Panda

* Go Diego Go

* SpongeBob Square Pants

* Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends

* Olivia

* Paddington Bear

* Dr Seuss The Cat in the Hat

The How Of Tag

The Tag system “reads” content by identifying dotted media within selected books. A sophisticated infrared camera works as an imaging system to recognize letters, words, and symbols written on special dot-patterned paper. Using an optical pattern system and digital processing techniques the Tag reader determines the precise location within the dot media. This enables a child to jump around within a book, or back and forth between different books in a seamless way.

So, kids have essentially a portable wizard friend to guide them through reading and all the wordy things that fly from pages to them. This is actually fairly fantastic in that reading is refined to the self-teaching as a method for accelerated learning.

What Else Is New?

Okay, so one does not usually think of toys as some of the greatest innovations ever made. LeapFrog has done an exquisite job of engaging kids and parents with technology however. I have always been a proponent of anything that helps educate kids, and being a teacher once myself it is apparent that this company is quite serious about such refinement.

No, I do not work for LeapFrog if that is what you are thinking. I have approached them about a joint venture of substantial merit however. In my view, all the very best endeavors need to line up on the “positive progress” side of the fence if we are ever going to solve some of these problems we face. Obviously, electing a new President or watching YouTube is not going to cut it in the future.

Companies like LeapFrog can pave the way to new horizons in the way kids read, write, visualize and in the end the literal quality of their thinking. I know that most parents do not have time to think this far ahead, but our children’s world need shaping at a slightly different angle than has previously been tried. Visualize a cool frog jumping over the hurdle of how we have always approached education - you gotta love progressive thinking.