New Tamagotchi-style toy for kids creates bread

Dough Globe puts kids to work fermenting sourdough in the guise of a game.

Many toys have the dual purpose of entertaining kids as well as helping them learn, such as GoldieBlox – the book and building block kit that aims to teach girls about engineering. However, our latest spotting – Dough Globe – puts kids to work fermenting sourdough in the guise of a game. To create sourdough, the ingredients need to react with fermenting yeast and be regularly folded over several days. Aiming to get kids involved, the Dough Globe is a Tamagotchi-like game where children have to look after their lump of dough. To begin, flour and water are placed inside the plastic ball. The device has a built-in accelerometer, which detects whether it is being turned, and can communicate with a computer. Online, a dough-shaped character called Doug offers to play games that will help him complete his job of making tasty sourdough. If the child looks after their dough, Doug’s world will thrive; if they don’t, his world becomes too sour. Those who do well in the game — and therefore do well at creating a nice sourdough – are rewarded with recipes they can make with the end product. Created by Foundry, a research division of the UK arm of Mint Digital, the toy hopes to be entertaining for kids while also putting their efforts into the creation of a useful product. How else can the actions children perform during playtime be leveraged for something useful?