As a company that makes technology for children, we have a fair amount of fun at work. Every day, we get to tap into our inner kid, creating awesome features, testing amazing activities and trying out engaging games—all in the name of better tech for younger users. (It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it!) We’re driven every day to unlock the vast potential of technology for children by building experiences that promote connection, creativity and cultivation.
Life at Kinzoo is lots of fun, but when it comes to our mission, we’re pretty serious; we’re working hard to be the most trusted brand for incorporating technology into our children’s lives and we weigh every decision we make against this goal. Below we recap a few exciting ways that we helped bring our mission to life last year.
Empowering kids to create their own profiles
The conversation about kid-tech often focuses on one thing: safety. And while keeping kids safe online is certainly one the most important things we do at Kinzoo, we also know that it’s only part of the equation. We believe that the technology we put in kids’ hands should also empower them.
That’s why we made it possible for kids to create their own profiles in Kinzoo last year. After they sign up for a limited profile, they can begin to (safely) explore what the app has to offer—and ask their parents to help them access the full experience. We know that children are capable of some pretty incredible things, and we believe that technology should help them to explore that potential in a safe, engaging way.
New Partnerships: Look For The Good Project and OPEN National Field Day
At Kinzoo, we believe that kids deserve access to the best of technology—and that’s why we were thrilled to introduce a partnership with Look For The Good Project and OPEN National Field Day.
As part of the OPEN Online Physical Education Network, OPEN National Field Day supports the overarching mission of improving the effectiveness of physical education for every child. This coordinated national and international event helps get kids active and moving, and in 2021, OPEN National Field Day went virtual to ensure that everyone could continue to participate safely. Kinzoo was honored to collaborate on interactive digital tools to facilitate the event.
And, Look For The Good Project has a mission to improve the lives of children by giving them access to social-emotional learning programming, which develops a healthy self-esteem. It can’t be stressed enough: having the skills to process your emotions in a constructive way is essential for kids to become happy, healthy teens and adults. We were proud to partner with Look For The Good Project in 2021 to create digital tools that can help kids work through their feelings—online and offline.
Introducing Paths: a new way to shape your experience in Kinzoo
A big part of our vision at Kinzoo is to create a digital space where families can connect and share experiences that wouldn’t otherwise exist. We always believed in the potential for technology to bring us together, spur our creativity and inspire us to discover new passions. In 2021, we were excited to launch Paths—a new way for you and your loved ones to choose activities and content that you enjoy. Right now, we have original interactive stories, amazing activities and awesome audio Paths, but we’re always working to include new experiences that appeal to diverse interests. And, all of our Paths are opt-in, meaning that you are in control of which ones you add to your home screen.
Some of our most favorite Paths? We love KidNuz for its kid-friendly, unbiased news podcasts. It’s a great opportunity for children to stay informed about current events in an age-appropriate way and to learn to be savvy news consumers. And, the original choose-your-own-adventure style story, It’s About Time, has been a huge hit! Written by cartoonist Katie Brookoff, this time-travelling story starts with a science fair project gone wrong—and you get to choose how it ends! We were also excited to partner with Kid Coach on a special Path to help parents encourage soft skills in kids. Daily prompts lead to inspired, meaningful conversations to develop creativity, leadership, empathy, resilience and more. And, that’s just a sample of the amazing Paths we launched in 2021! Check them all out, find the ones that inspire you, and add them to your home screen in Kinzoo!
Adding more fun and games—by popular demand
Since we launched, we heard one request over and over again: more games! As a group of moms, dads, aunts and uncles, we know that one of the best ways to connect with kids (online or in real life) is through play. Our community asked for more ways to enjoying playing together in Kinzoo, and we listened. In 2021, we launched a bunch of new games that you can access in your chat screen—giving everyone a chance to enjoy some healthy (and fun!) competition with their loved ones.
Getting creative with photo and video filters
Continuing on the theme of f-u-n this year, we added awesome filters in Kinzoo, so you can get creative and transform your pics and videos! And while transforming yourself into an alien is always a good laugh, it’s so much better when you can share it with family and friends. Not only do filters give us the chance to express ourselves in a new way, they give us a reason to connect with the ones we love and share some laughter together.
And this is just the beginning!
It’s been an exciting year full of challenges and celebrations. As we look back on 2021, we’re proud of the work that our team did to make technology better for kids everywhere. We’re also looking forward to the year to come! Stay tuned for more exciting features, games, activities and Paths as we continue to build the kind of tech we want to share with our own families.
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