Suppose you were suddenly given four hours of free time, put in your house, and told to find a way to entertain yourself. How would you choose to fend off the boredom? Undoubtedly, you might resort to electronics; iPads and HD TVs are an easy way to kill a few hours, right? You might choose to entertain yourself with books instead, perhaps a magazine, and get lost in literature for a while. You might even choose to use your email or your cell phone and communicate with friends or family for a few hours. But, what if you didn’t have any of that? What if you were given four hours of free time, and given only this thing:
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What in the world is it, you ask? Why, this is Bilibo. This revolutionary children's toy is taking a few notes from the past, offering the simplest possible platform for play: a plastic shell.
You may be wondering, how anyone (especially children, with their small attention spans) could possibly be entertained by this. Well, that is the magic of Bilibo. The philosophy of the company that makes this toy is that children will take simplicity and transform it with their incredible, untainted imaginations.
At first, I didn’t believe this for a second. I was a child not too long ago, and the idea that I would be stupid enough to mistake this boring plastic shell for an actual toy was insulting. But, I was proven wrong. This company experimented and found that children found all sorts of ways to interact with the Bilibo shells. They used them as sleds, as seats, as containers, as train cars, and even as houses. They balanced on them and built with them and even turned them into drum sets. Instead of questioning the Bilibo, I started to question myself; had I become too jaded with time to see the entertainment value of my own imagination?
The initiative to stop overloading kids with bright screens and shiny gadgets and start cultivating their own imaginations with simple, clever toys is definitely a great idea; and in more ways than one. By making a simple plastic toy like this, the company that makes Bilibo can save millions in comparison to how much they would spend manufacturing some new electronic gadget for kids to stare at (not to criticize all electronics, there are definitely some good ones out there, even for kids). All in all, a pretty great idea.
More on Bilibo: http://www.bilibo.com/en/intro/
Image:
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I definitely agree with your post. I feel that even though we are improving in many areas, some of our basic human interaction or creativity skills may be replaced by technology. In a way, because many of us are communicating through the computer or phones now, people may be losing the ability to converse face to face. This idea is similar to the Bilibo. Even though we may be advancing in logic, are we regressing in creativity? Hopefully if somebody handed me a Bilibo I would make it into a sled, but more than likely I would just look at it for a few seconds and then walk away! Maybe this was different when I was younger... am I losing my creativity?
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