At Toca Boca’s Stockholm studio, which is festooned with real retro and modern toys from all corners of the world, I sit in on a playtest where a small girl creates a mad tower of rice and vegetables. You can play around with ingredients to create perfect little nigiri and serve them to appreciative characters, or stack plates with wild creations, or serve up an entire raw fish just to see the reaction. The latest in the range, Toca Kitchen Sushi, arrives in the App Store and on Google Play today, and is aimed at 6-to 9-year-olds.
But put a Toca Boca game in front of a young child and they just start experimenting and finding their own fun. To an adult, these digital toys seem weird: we’re so conditioned to goal-oriented activities, in games as in real life, that the absence of direction is confusing.
Toca Train lets children drive a colourful train around a track, picking up passengers and cargo Toca Store has them setting up a little shop and handing out change Toca Hair Salon involves giving characters wacky haircuts. Costing a few quid each, they are relaxed, well-designed and visually appealing, have no goals, scores or adverts, and present an imaginative little virtual sandbox for kids to play in.
As a parent of a toddler, they are my go-to digital toys.
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