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Tell me a story…
Blogger Wendy Smolen shares 10 inspiring tales to get your storytelling juices flowing.Read More
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Creative Thinking
From blogger Wendy Smolen: What makes people creative? Is it in our genes or an acquired skill? Read More
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Why a gaming mouse works in the office
Blogger Wendy Smolen looks at a playful solution to an everyday problem.Read More
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Lights, camera, and real world action
After attending the HATCH conference, blogger Wendy Smolen shares her biggest takeaway - great ideas always start with passionate people. And each person has a story. She shares the story of Mike...
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Play is a superfood…the kale of behavior (And other playful insights from...
To help make sense of our need to play and our push-pull relationship with doing things for the fun of it, blogger Wendy Smolen talks with Gwen Gordon, a play expert who's currently producing a...
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It’s time we started playing together
Can a gathering of big names (and egos) in the children's digital media business yield a collaborative learning environment? The annual Dust or Magic conference shows it's possible, especially when...
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TGIW: Thank goodness it’s Wednesday
Just in time for Thanksgiving, blogger Wendy Smolen shares her list of industry items she's thankful for.Read More
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Believe in the magic of play
In this edition of Out of the Sandbox, blogger Wendy Smolen looks at Disney's new Imagicademy "ecosystem" of digital and physical products focused on making learning a family experience rather than a...
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Hooking up…for research.
Research can reveal a lot of things...sometimes even things we don't want to know. While researching "research," Wendy discovered one of the lesser known, but widely accepted and highly effective...
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Who’s watching the kids?
According to Flurry Analytics, not only is Christmas the biggest day for new device activation, it's also when the largest number of apps are traditionally installed. For developers, parents and...
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Staying relevant: Lessons we can learn from museums
In this edition of Out of the Sandbox, Margaret Honey, PhD, president and CEO of The New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) and author of Growing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators, describes how NYSCI...
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The best of Toy Fair: 10 non-tech toys I loved
From Think Fun's Maker Studio to Mattel's Treasure Truck, Wendy Smolen looks at the top-notch non-tech toys featured at last week's Toy Fair in New York.Read More
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A dozen tech toys you need to watch
Wendy Smolen's take on some of the most buzzed about tech toys at this year's Toy Fair, held last month in New York. Filtered through her Sandbox Summit lens, Smolen examines what each toy teaches kids...
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Playing together. It’s always better than playing alone
Wendy Smolen looks at a new initiative between Lego, The Lego Foundation and UNICEF to create an early learning and children's rights partnership that uses the power of play as a focus point. A...
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What we think we know about platforms
During Sandbox Summit at MIT last month, PlayScience released a study that revealed some surprising findings about parents' perceptions regarding their children's play platforms. Wendy Smolen asks Dr....
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If I had a hammer…an innovation alert
In this edition of Out of the Sandbox, Wendy Smolen looks at five personality types that foster innovation within a company. Read More
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Change Your Perspective
Wendy Smolen shares her top three takeaways from the New York-based Games for Change Festival and the opening keynote by Playmatics cofounder Nick Fortugno.Read More
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Lance Weiler’s must-read story about the future of storytelling
The founder of Columbia University's Digital Storytelling Lab gives us an inside look at his work at the University and how the Lab is designing stories for the 21st Century. Read More
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The Graduate, circa 2015
Wendy Smolen takes inspiration from a number of notable commencement addresses, looking at how we can help others and what generations young and old can offer each other in the working world.Read More
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Blending Learning: Blurring the line between on and off
Wendy Smolen explores the intersection of real world and digital play, looking at projects and products that balance screen time with physical play.Read More
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