CBeebies Playtime Island App Launches

LONDON: The BBC has rolled out the brand-new CBeebies Playtime Island app for preschoolers, co-designed by the channel’s audiences and the BBC Children’s app team in Salford.

The CBeebies Playtime Island app features new games and other surprises. Youngsters are able to build their very own Playtime Island by adding their favorite games, and a game library and downloads will be offered soon.

The BBC worked closely with CBeebies audiences throughout the development of the app, which is currently available on Android, iOS and Amazon Fire devices. The audiences’ ideas and sketches were turned into items featured in the game. The original CBeebies Playtime app will still be available, though all new games will be released onto CBeebies Playtime Island and the CBeebies website.

Kay Benbow, controller of CBeebies, said, “CBeebies Playtime Island is an exciting environment for our games that can evolve based on the interests and needs of our youngest audiences; it can develop and grow with them. It also gives them a greater range of choice and control all within one safe and beautifully designed landscape. And it’s not only designed for little ones but with them too, as the wonderfully creative buildings and vehicles came directly from them.”

Lucie McLean, the head of children’s products, said: “We’ve loved co-designing CBeebies Playtime Island with the little ones. We’re going to continue developing the app in that spirit and we have a few exciting surprises in store for them too. It’s an approach to designing our apps that has worked well before, and coincides with a new approach to technology as well. CBeebies Playtime Island was built using a new platform we call Pick n Mix, which lets us adapt our existing online games more easily and efficiently for mobile. It means we can bring more of the games our audiences love to the devices they love playing them on.”