Hackaball turns programming into play
Play and creativity are as important as coding for the next
generation’s career success
Kickstarter page - http://kck.st/1El2sWk
Kickstarter video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_5FcS2bzOg
On crowd-funding platform Kickstarter, in partnership with Made by Many and Map, we are launching Hackaball, a smart
and responsive ball for 6-10 year olds. Children can program the ball using a companion iPad app on which they can
invent their own games and upload them wirelessly to the ball and play. Hackaball is, in essence, a computer you can
throw around.
education shifted the focus from learning computing language to the digital building
“ Ifprocess
itself, a world of creativity could be unleashed
Christian Hernandez, The Guardian (Oct 2014)
In September of last year, schools in the UK started requiring that children as young as five are taught and understand
how to code and foundational coding principles. This is borne out of an understanding that technical literacy and
leadership is the economic future for many countries. There has been a slow but steady upswell of tools and resources
online to teach kids the basics, from online classrooms like Code.org to iPad games like Lightbot.
Hackaball combines physical and digital worlds; it supports progressive school curriculums by teaching kids the basic
elements of programming and creates a deeper understanding of the world of digital objects through open and creative
play. The next generation will need to understand more than how to code: they’ll need to have more of a sense of
how technology works and how to use technology creatively to solve problems. We designed Hackaball to inspire this
emerging, more-diverse generation to understand, use and make digital products.
Hackaball represents a new attitude towards
enjoying technology in a non-fragile format
The ball can be disassembled for
experimentation and hacked into other projects
Hackaball satisfies children’s love of technology
and also encourages outdoor play
Clare Copeland, a Senior Lecturer in Education for ICT & Computing at London Southbank University, recently trialled
Hackaball with her student teachers who will soon be delivering the new national curriculum for computing.
“With Hackaball, every step of the programming cycle can be experienced by children first hand plan, build, test, debug, refine - with instant results which is really motivating.”
“Overall, it is fun and exciting to use, and children will think up more original and innovative ways
of using it, engaging their creative thinking and imagination.
Hackaball gives young children a brilliant head-start in learning the logic of programming and communicating instructions
to a physical object, and it turns that object into part of the world of their imagination. Hackaball’s app helps kids learn
the syntax of basic coding by writing if;then rules to control what the ball does. The UI is space-themed, with games
appearing in the ‘galaxy’ once children invent them.
represents a whole new attitude to computers and learning, turning technology into
“ Hackaball
something you do together not alone, something to be chucked around and that isn’t fragile, and
where you learn through creative play, not instruction.”
William Owen, Founding partner, Made by Many
An Hackaball and app bundle is £42. A school pack of five hackaballs can be purchased or
donated to a school for £330 from Kickstarter, which includes Hackaball’s inventors running an
inspiring game-creation workshop via videocall (or in person in London).
Learning through play at home
Many parents might not expect they can teach their child ‘computer science’ at home, with two thirds of digital making
is happening at school according to a recent report by Nesta. Hackaball’s simple iPad app makes it easy for parents and
other family members to collaborate on games and support children’s learning.
want my daughter to become interested in technology and
“ Icoding,
and to do this in a fun and non-intimidating way. I also
love the fact that Hackaball is designed in a very neutral way
- a lot of tech toys can look like they are aimed towards boys
which can put my daughter off.”
Jane Austin, one of the parents who has tried out Hackaball with her 6 year old
daughter
played happily with the prototype Hackaball for hours,
“ She
with her good friend, both of them discussing how the game was
Hackaball games invented by children are
added to the ball
working and running around. The fact that this toy promotes
conversation and activity rather than staring passively at a
screen is another big win in my opinion.”
Jane Austin
the fact that with Hackaball my children can work together
“ Ionlikesomething
or play separately if they prefer, and that it’s
not gender-biased. What’s more they can personalise it – with
display and sounds – and in my experience that way lies
longevity in terms of its use. Result!”
Nicki Sims who has two daughters aged 9 and 12
A simple user interface makes it easy for
children to create their game using building
block instructions and if;then rules.
Hackaball for educators delivering the new coding curriculum
Here are all of the ways that Hackaball delivers against the UK educational requirements.
Made by Many have a strong track record in education innovations: recently winning the IxDA Award for Skype in the
classroom a platform developed in close collaboration with teachers; and building the online platform for Sugata Mitra’s
School in the Cloud. Made by Many’s edtech initiative TechDu recently ran a training workshop for student teachers at
London Southbank University.
Creative technologist Melissa Coleman from
Made by Many demonstrates Hackaball to
trainee teachers
Clare Copeland, Senior Lecturer in Education &
ICT has shared her insights for how Hackaball
could be used in lessons for Early Years
The Hackaball app for iPad can be used by
teachers and children to program instructions
for the ball
Clare Copland, Senior Lecturer in Education for ICT & Computing at London Southbank University describes Hackaball as
a tool for learning soft skills alongside the logic of programming:
“ Children can see the relationship between the algorithm, the code and the output on the
device instantly, making algorithms less of an abstract concept. With guidance they can be
scaffolded to create very complex sequences of instructions.”
“ Hackaball facilitates collaboration, and develops other skills like group problem-solving, when
creating, testing and playing games as a team. Kids can develop their confidence as makers,
by ‘fixing’ the ball when it arrives disassembled.”
“ After mastering the basics of programming the Hackaball children will also be more advanced
logic to analyse and then predict what will happen next. Ambitious children wanting to create
more complex games will also need to use decomposition by breaking down their game idea
into various stages or steps before programming.”
“ Hackaball is a good place to get going with the coding curriculum because there are so many
different ways to use it and its suitable for all ages. In a classroom setting, it is helpful that
there is no fiddly equipment to set up and it is inclusive in that it can be used at any level no
prior knowledge necessary but also progressively challenging.”
“ If children are given a target audience to design a game for then they can evaluate the
activity they have made which is another key skill highlighted in the computing curriculum.
These evaluations can be based on various factors such as design criteria and users needs.”
Other benefits and applications of Hackaball in the classroom identified
by Clare Copeland:
• Hackaball can be programmed by the teacher or children for class/group activities in the classroom e.g used as a timing device to indicate next turn in a phonics or mental maths game or activity.
• It can be used as a way to include all children in discussions – for example pass the Hackaball and when it turns green it’s your turn to contribute e.g. give an answer, ask a question etc.
• For behaviour management e.g. “when the ball does X we need to sit down or line up”
• During Personal Social and Health Education or circle time - program the ball to show how you’re feeling or to demon strate empathy for others feelings
• Can be used in PE - many applications e.g. children can use in team games, relays, an incentive for carrying out exercise activities, dance or you could give the children scenarios to plan and create activities for their peers or other groups e.g. create a game for 5yr olds that will help them develop their catching skills
• Hackaball can also become a prop for role play and drama - children can dress the ball up or use it for sound effects and lighting.
What makes Hackaball unique in the ‘ed tech’ category is three things:
1/ Hackaball takes learning code from passive, sedentary state to an active one.
While kids control and design the game from an iPad, they can be off and running - just being kids - actively playing their
game within 30 seconds. This is truly a tool that teaches kids the fundamentals of programming, while still giving them the
freedom to play physical games.
2/ There are no boundaries placed on what kids can do or design with the ball.
Do they want to make it a dragon’s egg and pretend to not wake a sleeping dragon? They can do that. Do they want to
practice their soccer moves and see how much they can kick it up? Sure. Other products in the market follow a very linear
path building system, or keep kids within the boundaries and rules of their design. In an era of the freedom of Minecraft,
this is too constricting -- Hackaball harnesses the power of kids’ imagination.
3/ The price point is hard to beat when compared to the market.
At $69 (£45), Hackaball offers kids so much more and at a better price point than say, an Arduino starter kit ($121), a Kano
computer ($149), or a Play-i Dash and Dot Robot ($169).
Hackaball began life as a side project for digital innovation
company Made by Many with the simple brief, ‘Play!’.
The team was initially interested in experimenting with
combining digital and physical interaction. Through rapid
prototyping and testing with children, parents and schools,
Made by Many developed a product that showcased the
potential to encourage physical and creative play, packing
a basic computer and its input and output devices into
a ball - something children have been playing with for
thousands of years - and designing a visual programming
language that young children could learn by themselves.
As the project became a larger initiative, Made by Many
sought out the expertise of other parties to turn Hackaball
into a viable product. Map is the industrial design partner
and was charged with creating a physical product that was
robust and engaging for play and use. Alongside Map and
Made by Many, Karl Sadler worked on the audio personality
of Hackaball and Kudu on electronics. Hackaball is now an
independent venture.
Made by Many is an innovation consultancy that combines
product strategy, design and engineering skills to enable
large companies to launch, scale and operate new digital
ventures. Made by Many connected teachers and pupils
in 230 countries through Skype in the Classroom; it
conceived and built a multichannel news service that grew
ITV News online by 2000% in two years; vand created
Composed, the newly launched online subscription service
that gives consumers direct access to Universal Music
Group’s classical music catalogue.
Map is a strategy-led industrial design company that uses
ethnographic research, consumer insights and an iterative
design process to produce compelling and beautiful
product design and design strategy. Map calls this process
‘Informed Creativity’. Clients include world-renowned
innovators such as Virgin Atlantic, Panasonic and Google,
as well as growth-phase companies and ambitious startups like Sabi and Kano
www.madebymany.com
@madebymany
www.hackaball.com
@hackaball
www.mapprojectoffice.com
@MapProjectO
Press enquiries:
[email protected]
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http://goo.gl/WAlZDb
Kickstarter page - http://kck.st/1El2sWk
Kickstarter video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_5FcS2bzOg