Amazon and KidKraft are partnering to bring an Alexa-enabled toy kitchen to your child’s playroom. This 2-in-1 Kitchen and Market will use Amazon’s voice assistant to let your kids enjoy an interactive Alexa-enabled pretend kitchen and grocery store. The only thing that this $300 playlet lacks is an Alexa itself, though it will include 100 different pieces that will each prompt a reaction from Amazon’s voice assistant.
Let your kids hit the kitchen with Amazon’s latest 2-in-1 playset
This playset is designed to let your kids join you in the kitchen, except, they won’t be playing with your pots and pans. The KidKraft 2-in-1 Alexa-enabled Kitchen and Market is built around Amazon’s voice assistant and will include 100 different pieces to be used.
It uses a mixture of RFID and Bluetooth to tell your Echo device which pretend food items that your kids are buying or cooking. The one thing to keep in mind here is that this $300 playset doesn’t actually come with an Alexa device, so you’ll have to provide that yourself.
Your kids will interact directly with Alexa, without saying a word
The unique thing here is that your child won’t have to keep saying the word “Alexa” to use Amazon’s assistant. The mic isn’t even always active once you launch the KidKraft Alexa skill, which is a nice feature considering the recent privacy concerns that Amazon found itself in the midst of. Your Echo will only talk or ask questions based on how your child plays with the included accessories, and here’s how that works according to CNET.
Each of the 100 play pieces, which include fake food and cookware, has a built-in RFID chip and sensors. These tell Alexa whether the items are at the register or on the stovetop, and then the playset relays that information to the speaker through a Bluetooth connection. For example, if your child places lettuce on the scanner in this 2-in-1 kitchen playest, Alexa will say, “Lettuce! Are we making a salad?” At this point, the speaker begins to listen to your young one’s answer, which should be “Yes!” After this, Alexa will respond, “Great! I love salad. Maybe get some avocado, too.”
There are over 700 different commands and responses, ranging from chiming in with prompts for recipes, shopping lists of ingredients, and more. Like, if your child puts a pot on the stove in your child’s new kitchen, Alexa could say, “Now that the water is boiling, can you open up the fridge and grab some vegetables?”
Amazon addresses your privacy concerns
It’s inevitable that whenever a smart speaker comes into contact with children, that parents will be concerned about their privacy: and you should be. Amazon has addressed this issue, so far, by requiring any Alexa program for kids to follow strict content guidelines. These programs cannot include advertising, sell anything, collect any personal information, and they also can’t include content that isn’t suitable for all ages. This, along with the fact that KidKraft’s Alexa skill only listens for a response when prompted to do so by outside forces when using the playset, should help set parent’s minds at ease.
Pricing and availability
While there is no specific availability date set yet, pricing should be right around $300, according to CNET. We’ll know more about this playset once the Toy Fair opens, but until then, let us know in the comments what you think about Amazon’s latest adventure.
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