Tech Will Save Us, a startup on a mission to spark creativity and imaginative play with technology, is unveiling a hands-on toy that enables kids to make electronic toys out of squishy dough. The company is creating three different toys in the Dough Universe, all aimed at teaching kids the fundamentals of electricity through light, movement, and sound.
The company is launching a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the three new make-it-yourself kits that use conductive dough and basic circuits. The toys include the Bright Creatures Kit, Squishy Sounds Kit, and Electro Machines Kit. The toys are targeted at kids ages four and up, and they encourage kids to get messy with the dough.
Tech Will Save Us is also launching its first tablet app on iOS and Android to enable kids to use the digital world to bring the physical world to life. The app takes kids through a series of stories and challenges to guide play and show them how electricity works.
Above: Daniel Hirschmann and Bethany Koby of Tech Will Save Us.
“Sixty-five percent of kids currently in primary school will have jobs that don’t yet exist (today). We believe that kids deserve toys, which will provide them with the skills that will help prepare them for the future,” said Bethany Koby, cofounder and CEO of Tech Will Save Us, in a statement. “We hope that the Dough Universe will inspire our youngest generation to embark on a lifelong love of learning. As a parent myself, it’s important that toys are educational and help children through key developmental stages, ensuring that children aren’t just passive consumers of tech.”
The kits, which can be purchased separately or together, create open-ended games and activities that make dough creations spin, flash, and beep.
The Bright Creatures Kit makes dough creations blink, light, and flash up with light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and buzzers. This kit teaches kids about polarity, so they can learn that current flows in a certain direction. And it lets them build a fire-breathing dragon.
The Squishy Sounds Kit helps kids learn how electricity creates sound. Dough creations can be programmed to hum, beep, and even have their own voices.
Above: Dough Universe teaches kids the principles of electronics.
And the Electro Machines Kit makes dough creations spin, roll, and move. The Mighty Motors Kit teaches the basics of how switches and motors work.
“We are excited to have Tech Will Save Us back on Kickstarter, and to share the Dough Universe with our community,” said Julio Terra, director of technology and design at Kickstarter, in a statement. “We were big fans of their last campaign for the Mover Kit.”
The Dough Universe Kickstarter campaign runs from June 5, 2017 through July 5, 2017. During this time, individual kits will be available for a special early-bird dough-nation of $40 while the trio of kits will be $100. When available during holiday 2017, each Dough Universe kit will retail for $50.
Cofounders Koby and Daniel Hirschmann founded Tech Will Save Us in 2012 with a mission to inspire kids by combining the power of play with the possibilities of technology through toys.
