TREND OF 2020: HELPFULNESS

Connecting Families With Caribu

Caribu’s games and read-alongs added a new dimension to video chat.

Caribu by Mattel

Read, Draw, Play on Videocall

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Chatting over video went from an occasional event to a daily necessity in 2020. This family-forward video-chat app figured out how to make that experience even richer for younger and older generations alike.

Founded by the Miami-based team of Maxeme Tuchman and Alvaro Sabido, Caribu was initially designed to help parents read to their children when they were apart. But once the pandemic struck, the duo realized its technology and vast library of digital books and games could do much more.

The app ushered in a new kind of video chat by giving everyone on the call something to do. With a few taps, children can turn the pages of a Thomas the Tank Engine book with their grandparents, invite aunts and uncles to play a game of memory, or color along with cousins, all while interacting face-to-face.

With Caribu, kids and grandparents could keep sharing their favorite books even when apart.

It makes starting those conversations simple for kids too. After you tap to call a trusted contact, up pops Caribu’s library of thousands of books and activities in 10 languages. Choose a title and the book expands to fill both participants’ screens, with a video-chat window hovering in the corner. If your eyesight isn’t what it used to be, zoom in on the text on your device without affecting the other’s.

Reading and games stay in perfect sync: When someone flips a page, it flips for the other person too. If you touch the words onscreen as you read, a red circle appears around those words on the child’s screen to make it easy to follow along. When you highlight a word in a word search, your partner sees it happen at the same time.

Caribu continually updates its activities to enjoy together, adding new mazes, coloring pages, sudoku (including picture-based options for kids who haven’t yet learned addition), block puzzles, and more each week.

It was all part of Caribu’s mission to make being physically apart feel a little less so.

Best Of winners will receive a newly designed award precision-milled from a recycled aluminum alloy with diamond-cut edges.

Best of 2020 Winners