UWATX has partnered with Famigo, a local Austin tech startup, to help parents discover quality apps for their children and help young children access educational apps more securely. Already, UWATX’s first cohort of Play To Learn families have logged more than 2,500 minutes since October, with an average of 61 logins per user.
Famigo is an app on the Android market that allows children to access a collection of educational games, interactive books and other child-appropriate content hand-selected by their parents. Once inside Famigo, children can’t wander to outside content, including apps not selected by their parents.
The service also provides a library of apps rated by their staff so parents can easily find new interactive education experiences for their young children. Only apps rated 3 or higher make it into the library, meaning all of the content is high-quality and safe for families and also has exceptional design and a great interface.
Through this partnership, UWATX has loaded Famigo onto each tablet distributed to Play To Learn participants, who receive a Samsung tablet at the end of an 8-week parent-and-child education course. Famigo provides data on how families are using the service and what app are most popular.
“Famigo works really well with our Play To Learn project because we are already integrating Samsung tablets so families can extend their education beyond our 8-week in-person course,” said Kaley Horton, UWATX Project Coordinator for Success By 6. “This app allows us to get deeper insights into how parents are engaging with the tablet.”
In the first few months, families have already started adding new apps from Famigo’s library to their own service, including apps for young children, older children and parents.
“Seeing parents finding their own apps is really encouraging – it shows that they are leaving the Play To Learn course with enough digital literacy to use the tablet to its full capabilities,” said Horton. “It also means they’re going beyond our recommended content, exploring on their own and using the tablet for their whole family.”