Earlier this month, Google launched brand new family-friendly experiences on the Google Assistant in the UK. To begin with, Google currently has four apps that families can now interact and play using Google Home and other Assistant-enabled speakers and smartphones.
The four well-known content partners are Aardman and the British Council’s Learning Time With Timmy, Moshi Twilight, Little Baby Bum and HarperCollins Children’s Books StoryCastle. For example, Learning Time with Timmy can help preschool children to learn new words, while Moshi Twilight offers a range of sleep stories and soothing sounds to help young children relax and get to sleep at bedtime. Little Baby Bum can assist parents and children in their daily routines with games and songs on potty training, eating vegetables and tooth brushing, while StoryCastle offers two classic children’s audiobooks read by leading voice actors for families to listen to every day.
Google Assistant is bringing the whole family together with over 20 new experiences to learn something educational, listen to music and bedtime stories like Cinderella and Beauty & the Beast, play games such as musical chairs, and more.
To help our family to learn more about these new families features, we have received this wireless Google Home Smart Speaker. Don’t worry if you don’t have this speaker or the Google Home Mini – Google Assistant is available on mobile and smart home devices too!
How I wish we could have had these features 10 years ago! I still can remember those days where we had to buy bedtime story CDs to play for our children! Now you can simply say, “OK Google, talk to Moshi Twilight” and you can access Sleep Stories, Guided Relaxations and Soothing Sounds. How great is that!
It gets better! If you are too tired to read them a story, why not try StoryCastle and discover the joy of listening to audiobooks together. We all enjoy this listening experience and it brings the story to life in a fun and immersive way.
If you have older children, like mine aged nine and ten, then take family night to the next level with games, trivia and more with Google Assistant! We love playing World Food Trivia, Talk Like a Chef and What Fruit Are You?. The questions are not always difficult but at the same time, not very easy! If you get it wrong the first time around, it will give you another chance to answer it. Besides telling you the right answer, Google Assistant explains it in a simple way for children to understand.
In February 2018, Google launched Family Link across multiple devices in the UK. Now you can add your child to a compatible Android device via Voice Match so that Google Home can provide a personalised experience just for them. Of course, parents have the ability to block the use of all 3rd party apps. Also Signed-in child accounts on Home prevent a child from playing YouTube videos or songs from YouTube music, playing songs from Google Play Music (unless their family has a Google Play Music family plan, or the person who set up Google Home has an individual subscription), making purchases or using non-Google apps, unless they have the “Apps for families on Google Assistant” badge.
I am so delighted that Google is continuing to add new features, functionality and security to the Google Assistant to make the experiences families friendly! It is such an enjoyable experience for everyone in the family. Have you tried it out yet? Why not give it a go and experience these fab apps yourself!
Disclosure: We received the sample for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.
