In an increasingly digital world, the question arises, especially in education: how can modern technologies be integrated into everyday learning in a meaningful and child-friendly way? Our innovative Xplore app, in combination with the multifunctional Xbrick® furniture, can be a building block. It combines the best of two worlds: playful, animated learning with real building elements and the fascination of immersive augmented reality (AR). In this way, we want to enable a holistic learning experience that motivates children, gets them moving and promotes their creativity and problem-solving skills.
Xplore was developed in collaboration with halbautomaten Kommunikationsdesign GmbH as part of the “KMU-Transfer KREATIV” funding program. The aim of the project was to expand the concept of playful and animated learning with Xbrick® to include digital animations and additional game ideas in order to make the educational game even more captivating and interactive. It should not only enrich the learning process, but also enable children to check their results independently and experience success independently of teachers.
Augmented reality, or AR for short, is the computer-aided enhancement of the real world with digital content. Virtual information, animations or game elements are superimposed directly over the camera image of a tablet or smartphone. This creates an interactive connection between the digital and physical environment.
In the Xplore app, this means that children build with the real Xbrick® elements and experience exciting AR effects at the same time. The app uses markings to recognize where and how the bricks have been placed and adds animations or feedback to what has been built in the tablet view. This makes learning lively, visible and a direct experience.
The Xplore app offers a variety of creative play and learning tasks that specifically combine movement and digital experience. In the game “Mission Mars”, children take on the role of astronauts and build a rocket with the Xbrick® blocks. If the construction matches the given blueprint, it actually takes off in the AR world.
By combining analog activities and digital expansion, children train a wide range of skills through play:
All of this happens intuitively, with the joy of movement and embedded in exciting stories and adventures.
Read here to find out more about how Xbrick can also be used as an analog learning module.
Augmented reality (AR) is no longer just a gimmick from the tech world. It has exciting potential in educational contexts in particular – and this is also confirmed by science. Various studies and research projects in recent years have been looking closely at the question: how can AR actually improve learning?
A central argument: AR enables learners not only to consume knowledge, but to experience it directly.
By merging the real and digital worlds, complex issues can be visualised, tried out or even explored in 3D environments.
Educational researcher Dr Norbert Pachler (University College London) has emphasised in several studies that it is precisely this ‘situated’ form of learning that supports the acquisition of knowledge in the long term.
Learners can experience content in their own context – and this not only increases understanding, but also memorisation.
Auch eine Studie von Radu (2014) kommt zu dem Schlusst: AR kann insbesondere bei abstrakten oder schwer vorstellbaren Lerninhalten helfen.
This is due to the spatial and visual properties of AR.
Our brain learns more effectively when information is presented not only verbally, but also visually and spatially – i.e. in 3D, with movement and direct interaction.
AR can make complex relationships ‘understandable’ because it supports our imagination and appeals to several sensory channels simultaneously.
This increases comprehensibility and retention.
Researchers such as Ibáñez & Delgado-Kloos (2018) show that AR not only has cognitive but also motivational benefits. In their studies, they were able to prove that learners found AR-supported learning scenarios to be significantly more motivating than traditional forms of learning – especially when gamification elements were added.
This also fits in with the frequently cited ARCS model by John Keller (1987), which describes how motivation arises in the learning process: Attention, relevance, trust and satisfaction are central building blocks here – and it is precisely these factors that AR can serve well.
The aspect of collaborative learning is also exciting: studies by Santos et al. (2016) show that AR often encourages learners to communicate more with each other because they relate to digital content in real space together. The learning space thus becomes a social space.
The Xplore app realises the potential of combining movement, analogue building and digital technologies. It is an exciting, immersive learning game – and can be a tool for a new learning culture. A learning culture that activates children, strengthens team spirit, promotes spatial imagination and at the same time teaches digital skills in a playful way.
Especially against the backdrop of current educational requirements, it is clear that anyone who wants to convey the joy of movement, spatial thinking and digital applications to children today needs creative solutions.
Research also confirms this: AR can make learning more sustainable, motivating and collaborative. By combining real activity and virtual content, knowledge is better memorised, learners are more actively involved and learning becomes a real experience.
Xplore can be an exciting tool for anyone who is committed to the education of tomorrow: interactive, movement-orientated, creative and digitally networked. A real added value for schools, daycare centres, leisure education and families who want to combine learning and movement in an innovative way.
And let’s not forget that Xbrick® also works in a completely analogue way: as a stool, movement module, learning volume and outdoor furniture.
Find out more about
wd3 GmbH
Seidenstraße 57
70174 Stuttgart
Copyright © wd3 GmbH • 2025 •