Meet the StoryPod. Part smart-speaker, part plush-toy collection, the StoryPod is all about engaging a child without relying on screens. Designed to be the child’s first introduction to the world of podcasts, the StoryPod comes with two innovative components that help entertain and educate children. The hub of the StoryPod experience is its smart speaker, a small-yet-powerful audio device that plays back stories, music, and reads out fun facts to help educate children in a fun way. The HomePod-shaped speaker’s colorful design makes it instantly appealing to children, and an intuitive UI helps kids navigate the speaker’s features without the use (or the need) of a display. The StoryPod’s catalog of stories, songs, and educational tales manifests itself in a series of plush toys called the Crafties. Designed to provide a strong visual element to the StoryPod’s audio experiences, each Crafties plush comes with its unique character design and story, which plays through when the character is placed on top of the StoryPod. It’s sort of the equivalent of placing a record on a turntable… except instead of a record, you’ve got a plush toy which you place on top of the StoryPod to play its specific audio file . NFC-chips on the base of each Crafties toy help the StoryPod recognize the plush that’s placed on top, allowing you to play as many as 300 audio tracks from 30 different Crafties plush toys. The Crafties not only make great toys that children can play with, they effectively are your StoryPod’s ‘album collection’ of bedtime stories, lullabies, adventure tales, poems, and songs. The Crafties collection span animals, popular fairytale characters, cars, adventurers, and even revolutionary role-models from history, all with their own individual back-stories. You can personalize your own Crafties too, with the ability to record your own stories, messages, and songs for a more personal, bespoke StoryPod experience. StoryPod’s collection of tracks come in both English and Spanish, helping kids stay engaged while building their foundations of language and cognition. Aside from being your child’s first introduction to smart-speakers and to podcasts, the StoryPod offers the ability to teach children too, with a series story and activity books as well as games that help the child learn and grow while having fun, all while limiting their exposure to screens. Not to mention the adorable toy-collection that kids get to play with too! Designer: Edditunes (40% off). Hurry, only 18/100 left! Raised over $230,000. The Storypod is a storytelling audio device starring lovable Crafties that “edutain” kids 3+ with bilingual bedtime stories, music, & read-along books. Screens are amazing for a lot of things, but overexposure to them can have devastating effects for children. As screen time has skyrocketed, so have cognitive and behavioral issues like ADHD. , a highly-regarded American Medical Association publication, found that children who spent more time on screens showed less expressive language and ability to rapidly name objects, decreased literacy skills, and even physical changes to the brain. So how much screen time is too much? Well, the American Academy of Pediatrics and World Health Organization recommend the following guidelines: – Until 18-months: No screen time. – Until age 5: Limit screen use to 1 hour per day of high-quality programming, co-view with your children, help them understand what they are seeing, and help them apply what they learn to the world around them. Simply put one of their yarn figurines they call Crafties on Storypod. You’re transported to a world of podcast-quality stories, music, and learning topics. Each Craftie has a special chip inside that streams its content to Storypod, which is bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled (but purposely lacks a microphone for child-safe privacy). When you put a Craftie on Storypod for the first time, its content will download directly onto Storypod so your kids can play it anywhere offline without Wi-Fi. A charming cast of audio characters. In addition to their fast growing library of original content, the have already started licensing top-tier content your kids already know and love. They are thrilled to reveal their featured launch partner, , whose renowned educational content since 1946 will be available on Storypod very soon. Through the Storypod app, your family & friends can record their own messages to a myCraftie that your little ones will want to play over and over again! Send them greetings, tell them jokes, and read them their favorite stories from far away. Do your kids beg you for “just one more story?” A sleep timer and night light make Storypod the best bedside buddy so your little ones can fall asleep listening to their favorite bedtime stories, lullabies, or white noise soundscapes. Storypod isn’t just about passive listening. It actively stimulates learning through age-appropriate question & answer sessions between story chapters that will engage your children on what they heard, improving their comprehension skills. Kids can press Storypod’s four color buttons to choose their own adventure, answer questions, and trigger special effects. The productive content team, which includes licensed educators and a Grammy Award-winning sound engineer, has so far created an audio library of 300+ incredible tracks with over 30 hours of high-quality audio stories and songs. (40% off). Hurry, only 18/100 left! Raised over $145,000.