A lot of us took for granted the access to computers and games when we had when we were growing up. It’s hard for me to imagine school holidays without my SNES and Diddy Kong. Well for many kids growing up in developing countries computer games let alone computers are a whole virtual world away. There are a lot of initiatives out there trying to get technology into the hands of these kids, the most well know probably the one laptop per child project spearheaded by Nicholas Negroponte which began distributing their bright green laptops in Colombia earlier this year.

I came across another group called Play power.org who have dedicated themselves to bringing Computer Aided Learning to children in developing countries. Similar to OLPC project Playpower take a cost effective approach to the problem by looking at what is currently accessible to these kids and modifying it. They are currently targeting 412 TV -Computers in China, India and South America.

This is a great cause that highlights the staple status of play in a childs congnitive learning plus helping them develop necessary technical skills for the future. This is truly great design at work because it solves a problem, PlayPower’s work recycles old technology and most importantly makes it accessible to people who need it. Find out more about their progress at the PowerPlay blog.