This Is the Friendship Bracelet of the Future
Whoever said, “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend,” never heard of Linkitz, the first-of-its-kind wearable technology that empowers girls to unleash their creativity. Studies show that girls often lose interest in STEM fields once they reach middle school, so the team at Linkitz set out to reverse that trend. Their stylish, code-able friendship bracelet gives girls something new to bond over: creating inspiring things. With the Linkitz kit of links and accessories, girls can evolve from toy consumers into toy makers and gain a new BFF for life in technology.
Each link in the Linkitz kit offers distinct capabilities. For example, there are links for a speaker, a microphone and LED. These links can then be popped into an accessory such as a wristband and assembled in different combinations. What starts as a simple friendship bracelet can be transformed into a walkie-talkie, an instrument or a number of games that emphasize problem-solving and spatial skills, such as Simon Says, hand clapping or color tag. Girls can even send secret coded messages to their friends.
Linkitz uses an age-appropriate pictorial programming language that gives girls as young as four the confidence to code. The Linkitz app will be offered with the toy to allow girls to customize Linkitz through the drag-and-drop pictorial interface. For the wunderkind out there, the app offers the ability to peel back the pictorial interface and interact directly with the Scratch platform on which the pictorial interface is built. The sky is the limit for what a girl can do with Linkitz, but the Linkitz Cookbook provides plenty of inspiration to get users started.
If you want to be an early adopter of the smart bracelet that will help girls change the world, check out the Linkitz Kickstarter campaign. For $50 you can get a young girl her own toy. The team is working on developing more links with new play options that should be ready to go by the delivery date.
Which of your favorite accessories would you like to see turned into wearable technology? Let us know in the comments below!
