It’s not just Amazon setting out to make Alexa kid-friendly. Lego has unveiled an Alexa story skill that guides younger children (aged 2 to 5) through playtime with Duplo blocks. Kids and their parents can walk through customizable stories themed around animals or vehicles with Amazon’s voice assistant encouraging “constructive, exploratory and roleplay” experiences. It can ask them to build creatively and recognize colors, for example.
The skill is available in the US and UK on any Alexa-ready device, and works with existing Duplo sets. There’s no doubt that Lego sees this as a clever sales strategy (you’ll just have to get enough kits for all these stories, won’t you?), but it’s also a rare experiment in combining a voice assistant with playtime. Lego sees this as a way to spark more learning and creativity for kids who are often too young to read.
This article originally appeared on Engadget.
