EDA PLAY TOBY

WATCHING THE ACTION

SIMPLE TOUCHING

New tasks

TOUCH AND FIND OUT WHAT'S HIDING IN THE DARK AND IN THE BOX

For the training of vision and fine motor skills; developed for children with multiple and visual disorders. Children with central visual impairment (CVI) can also benefit.

How to get the EDA PLAY TOBY app?

The EDA PLAY TOBY app is available for USD 6.99 on the App Store for iPad devices.

For ANDROID TABLETS: The EDA PLAY TOBY app is available for USD 6.99 on Google Play here.

We recommend using the app on tablets with a 7-inch display or larger. For children with visual and multiple disabilities, we recommend using this app on larger tablets, as these children need large enough images and play area.

EDA PLAY TOBY on the iTunes App Store and on the Google Play.

Features you will love

Training of visual attention and visual perception

The first stage “watch what’s happening” is suitable for the smallest children. The second stage of the game "touch and make something happen" is suitable for who are interested in specific pictures. The third and fourth parts of the game "touch and find out what's hiding in the dark" and "touch and find out what's hiding in the box" are made to support development of the visual perception.

Training of fine motor skills

The second, third and fourth stages of the game – “touch and make something happen”, "touch and find out what's hiding in the dark" and "touch and find out what's hiding in the box" are suitable both for children with visual disorders and for children with severe fine and gross motor skills impairments. The children can touch the screen anywhere or just slap it – and they are rewarded by an interesting sound of a musical instrument or an animal.

Simplicity

Achieving the tasks is very easy. The child needn’t touch a particular spot on the screen; it can be touched anywhere.

The application works with distinctive colours and very simple picture shapes. The plot is comprehensible. Neither the pictures nor the scenes contain any details and they are positioned against contrasting backdrop.

Explore the EDA PLAY TOBY app

New tasks:
"touch and find out what's hiding in the dark and in the box".

Tip for parents and teachers:

Don't want to play the tasks as the app offers them and want to skip straight to new tasks?

Tasks in the game are ordered from the easiest to the most complex. In the EDA PLAY TOBY app, you can jump to the task of your choice, you don't have to follow the order that the game automatically offers. If you want to focus only on touch tasks, you can turn off the automatic tasks. You have installed the EDA PLAY TOBY application. Start the task in it. On the game screen, press and hold the circle icon in the upper left corner for a few seconds. You will be taken to the Task overview where you can select the task of your choice.

Tip for parents and teachers:

Explore the possibilities of the Simulator of visual disorders

The EDA PLAY TOBY app includes the Simulator of visual disorders. How to access the Simulator: You have the EDA PLAY TOBY app installed. Start the app and play any task. On the game screen, hold the doll symbol in the bottom right corner for a few seconds. In the Main Menu, select the INFO button, then simply click on Simulator of visual disorders. To use it, you need to have a tablet (iPad or Android tablet) with a camera. You can experience what it's like to look at the world around you with different visual impairments. Each visual impairment is accompanied by a short informative text. You can find the visual impairment simulator in all our apps.

How does vision training actually work?

The eye has to be provoked and challenged. The right visual exercise has to be performed regularly and under an expert supervision. The aim of active vision stimulation is to support and develop the preserved visual capabilities of the child for their maximum use in daily life.

We practice the processing, saving and recollection of the visual perception. The child develops its skills: attention, search of the seen, fixation, focus transfer, observation of motion, eye-hand coordination, and orientation in space and on surface.

EDA PLAY TOBY app for the training of vision and fine motor skills

Markéta Skalická

Low vision specialist and methodologist for the development of visual perception, early intervention specialist

How is the vision trained in the EDA PLAY TOBY app?

“The EDA PLAY TOBY app develops especially the visual attention and primary visual images. The child becomes able to find an object on the screen, fix it and recognize it when seeing it again. This is supported by a sound response which is designed to enhance the ability of the child to recall the visual image. For example, a cow appears and bellows shortly; after being touched, it gives a long moo. This will enable the child to associate the visual image with the relevant sound.

The vision exercise stimulates the optic tract and the visual centres of the cerebral cortex which are in charge of imagery distinction and recognition. The pictures in the game are sufficiently contrasting and large to enable even an eye with reduced vision ability to watch the picture for long enough and repeatedly.
If the picture were indistinctive, small, on a complicated background, the child wouldn’t be able to recognize the picture which would, thus, not be attractive for the child. The child would not enjoy looking at the picture repeatedly and wouldn’t find interest in the picture or the game.

Children enjoy EDA PLAY TOBY; it supports their concentration on visual stimuli.”

Why is the background in the game black and black-and-white?

“Right from birth, children react to light and darkness, to the contrast of black and white. Gradually, in the first months of life, along with the maturing of the retina and connections in the central neural system, the child begins to focus its attention from contrasting patterns to facial outlines and colourful objects.

The black background of the EDA PLAY TOBY application is sufficiently contrasting to the colourful picture; it enables capturing of the child’s attention on the picture and it doesn’t distract the concentration. The child can concentrate fully. With some tasks, black-and-white background appears gradually; this has been used for a reason. It challenges the concentration focus of the child – it has to bring its attention from the disturbing white stripes in the background to a particular object, such as a fish which comes to the fore of the picture. The child is first captured by the abstract white stripes or different black-and-white background, but then it tries to find something which is already familiar, something reminiscent of some specific picture, such as fish.”

Seeing the same illustration in a different context

"The newly added "touch and find out what's in the dark and in the box" tasks work with the element of surprise to increase motivation for visual attention. Intentionally, images appear that have already appeared in the game, usually with a new surprise - first we see a red dog barking and standing, then a red dog barking again but now sitting, and then even a yellow dog appears.

In the new tasks, the illustrations include interesting details, but the images remain as simple as possible to be understood by young children or children who have difficulty forming visual images, for example due to central visual impairment (CVI).

For more inspiration from us on how to use repeated tracking of the same motif in play on and off the tablet, see the "Worksheet Activities" subpage."

Alice Pexiederová

Early intervention specialist

How to play and develop visual skills

"From the first months of age, children enjoy discovering their surroundings with their vision, touch, manipulation, tasting – they simply perceive through all their senses. The EDA PLAY TOBY application is a game focused especially on the development of visual perception.

The first stage of application “watch what’s going on” captures the child’s attention by a change on the tablet screen which happens automatically and it is enhanced by a sound effect. Step by step, we are providing the child with more complex objects to perceive; the perception difficulty is increased by white stripes on black background. The watching itself is an entertaining game and a proof that the child has begun to use its vision.

The second stage – “touch and make something happen” – features tasks which enable the child to affect the change in the game plot by touching the screen. The child touches the display and something interesting happens in the game.

The game and the skills of the children can vary significantly, however, even children with visual disorder or children with central visual impairment can enjoy the EDA PLAY TOBY game."

Lucie Magerová

Early intervention specialist

Helping to improve visual perception skills

"You can download worksheets with tasks such as coloring, mazes, and cut-out activities from the Activities page of our website. Just like the EDA PLAY TOBY app, the coloring pages include a picture of a cat. Download the coloring page, print it, and talk to your child about how the cat meows, how it looks in the EDA PLAY TOBY app, how it looks in the coloring page, how it looks in the photos, or how it looks in real life.

Have fun practicing visual skills with both the app and the worksheets you can find here.

Watch the EDA PLAY TOBY app trailer

Inspiration

The EDA PLAY TOBY is an application inspired by the development of children’s vision and by visual exercises which support the vision skills development. After diagnosing the visual disorder, the ophthalmologist may recommend wearing of an eye patch or of spectacles. If the vision is trained properly, the child has a chance of improving its vision. The vision is an activity acquired through training; the sooner the training begins, the better the chances of a change. Toby is a fifteen-months old boy who was – due to his complex visual disorder – recommended to wear both an eye patch and spectacles. His family uses the early intervention services provided to families of children with visual impairments.

New stages of the game "touch and find out what's hiding in the dark" and "touch and find out what's hiding in the box" are inspired by children with central visual impairment (CVI).

We would like to thank for the support in the iOS and Android app development!

The project is carried out with the support of the Czech Radio Foundation (Nadační fond Českého rozhlasu) from the Firefly (Světluška) fund.

The Czech Radio Fundation (Nadační fond Českého rozhlasu) from the Firefly (Světluška) fund

Reviews and articles about the EDA PLAY TOBY app

EDA PLAY TOBY: iOS App

Author: Julie Johnson, perkinselearning.org, published: August 3, 2016

"...The tasks within the app are separated into two levels. The first visual task levels challenges the user to use his or her vision in functional ways and gives him or her the opportunity to practice practice following, tracking and scanning objects and sounds at different speeds as they move across the screen. The second half of the tasks challenge the user to first look at the picture presented and then reach out to touch the picture on the screen to see the picture move with corresponding sounds as a way to reinforce reaching out."

EDA PLAY TOBY: Visual training iPad App for Visually Impaired Kids

Author: Wonderbaby.org, published June, 2016

"...In the first part of the app, you'll see a series of simple, high-contrast visuals on the screen. The shapes are well-defined and the movement is slow, but interesting. There are also fun sounds to accompany the visuals.(...) In the second part, you get to be a part of the action! Again, the visuals and movement are simple, but now you also have the option to touch the screen anywhere to create a new level of activity."

Video review: EDA PLAY TOBY iPad app for kids who are visually impaired

Author: Wonderbaby.org, published June 6, 2016

EDA PLAY TOBY is an iPad app designed for children who are visually impaired. The app helps kids learn to use the vision they have. Great app for kids with CVI!

Printable worksheets for free:

Colouring pages: a sailboat, a car and more

Colouring pages with black background

Printable worksheets: Let's solve the maze!

Happy Holidays!

The EDA PLAY apps for training of vision and fine motor skills. Thank you for your support!

BY using THE EDA PLAY toby APP, YOU ARE SUPPORTING THE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION EDA CZ, Z.Ú.

The non-profit organization EDA cz, z.ú. is an early intervention centre in Prague, Czech Republic, which provides early intervention services to help the families of visually and multiply impaired children, from the child's birth up to 7 years of his/her age.