Some years ago, there was a very popular product in the market. Children could buy a set of cards, point their phones at them, and instantly see amazing 3D dinosaurs or animals pop up on the screen. They could rotate them, place them on shelves, and take pictures.

I personally saw how kids reacted to this. The first two minutes were pure excitement — wow! But unfortunately, that excitement quickly faded. Very soon, the interest dropped to zero.

As I watched this pattern, I started to see the key problems. The first was purpose. What was the point of this AR experience? Sure, it was fun, but did it actually teach the child anything beyond basic imagination?

The second issue was engagement. This kind of AR was too passive. There was no real way for children to interact meaningfully for more than a few minutes. Parents couldn’t join in, and playing together — something so important — simply didn’t happen.

And finally, the biggest issue of all — educational value. This game didn’t teach anything. It was fun, but not enriching.

So I asked myself a simple but powerful question: How can we fix this?

That’s where ABC Go was born.

Instead of only showing a 3D model, we decided to add two key modes.

The first one is an educational mode. Yes, the child can see the 3D animal, but now they can do more. They can hear different sounds — not just a generic roar, but how the animal sounds when it attacks, when it plays, when it rests. On top of that, they can switch to hear short, informative audio pieces about the animal. What does it eat? Where does it live? Why is it special?

This transforms a passive AR toy into an active learning experience.

And there is more to come — but that’s a story for the next post.