Announcing our new app - Kiko's Thinking Time!

Posted by Grace on Jan 15 2015

We're extremely thrilled to announce the arrival of our new app, Kiko's Thinking Time! We've been working feverishly around the clock to get everything just right for this launch. This app builds upon the success of our first product, Thinking Time, and includes substantially more content: 10 mini-games (up from the original 4) and a whole new engagement format which encourages kids to stick to a daily training regimen.

The full text of our press release follows below:

Kiko Labs Unveils New Neuroscience-Based App for Children to Challenge Critical Skills Every Child Needs for School Success
Through Adaptive Play Sessions, Kiko’s Thinking Time Does for the Preschool Brain What Exercise Does for the Preschool Body
Kiko Labs, alongside neuroscientists, today announced Kiko’s Thinking Time for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, a unique adaptive suite of games for children based on neuropsychological exercises to challenge the foundational skills needed for school success. By playing the app, children exercise critical skills like executive functions and reasoning in fun workouts.

As 90% of a child’s brain develops in the first 5 years of life, the early, formative years are the ones that matter most. Children with stronger working memory, inhibition and attentional skills have been found to make larger gains on tests of early math, language and literacy development. Early research shows promise that these skills can be trained. Kiko Labs collaborated with neuroscientists from Harvard and UC Berkeley, and with support from the U.S. Department of Education, to design Kiko’s Thinking Time from behaviors and evidence-based techniques drawn from scientific studies showing early promise in improving the critical cognitive skills related to learning capacity.

“At Kiko Labs, we believe that every child deserves to fulfill his or her potential. Our learning experience called Kiko’s Thinking Time is a training program designed to help them do that,” said Grace Wardhana, co-founder and CEO, Kiko Labs. “This app for children targets fundamental skills like executive functions and reasoning that are the necessary groundwork for learning in kindergarten and beyond. Our goal is to make mental exercises fun.”

About Kiko’s Thinking Time

In just 10 minutes, children aged 3 – 7 can go on a customized adventure with Kiko the Fox to help her in her quest for treasure. They play a series of 10 games where they meet cute animal characters in Kiko’s village and help them with their activities. Through fun mental exercise, children who play Kiko’s Thinking Time challenge skills like memory and focus that will help them become more attentive, focused learners in school.

After the child is finished playing, the app provides reporting tools for parents to chart progress over time.

“Kiko's Thinking Time gives kids training wheels to practice critical skills like working memory and reasoning. It does this by providing a structured environment, and by designing progression in a rigorous, hierarchical way.” – Dr. Jenny Thomson, neuroscientist, former associate professor, Harvard University

Reaction from Parents, Teachers, Clinicians

Today’s announcement builds upon a successful beta version of Kiko’s Thinking Time, which recorded nearly 700,000 sessions of training activity. The response from children, their parents, teachers and clinicians has been impressive:

• "It is a great mix of a playing and learning app - it includes the perfect skills while keeping kids interested.” – Rebecca Brian, parent of three
• “Every classroom should have this app. I think it is wonderful and will really benefit the classroom. The data is excellent and will help me lead my instruction.” – Jaquetta Wallace, head teacher, Oakland Unified School District
• "I am an ABA therapist and work with a variety of children on the autism spectrum. I have been using it with my clients to help them improve their focus, ability to switch between tasks, etc. I find it very useful and I love that they enjoy it as a game!” – Yohanka Allen, clinician

Availability and Pricing

Kiko’s Thinking Time is available for free in the App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch or at www.appstore.com. When parents are ready for more content they can upgrade for unlimited access to all 10 games and a new game added monthly for $7.99/month or $49.99/year.

Follow Kiko’s Thinking Time at Kiko Labs

• Blog: http://www.kikolabs.com/index.php/blog/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kiko-labs
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kiko_labs
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kikolabs

About Kiko Labs

Since 2013, Kiko Labs has been creating adaptive games for children based on neuroscience. The company came out of the edtech accelerator co.lab created by Zynga.org and NewSchools Venture Fund, and is also backed by 500 startups, the SBIR grant from the U.S. Dept of Education, and angel investors, including Guitar Hero co-founder Kai Huang. The new Kiko’s Thinking Time is a neuroscience-based app designed to challenge cognitive learning skills such as memory, focus and reasoning, the necessary groundwork for learning in kindergarten and beyond. Download Kiko’s Thinking Time for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Learn more: www.kikolabs.com

*Center for the Developing Child, Harvard University