Young children have a natural curiosity about the world around them. By using their senses, they take in new information, catalog it with previous experiences, and come out with new meanings. When introducing something brand new to children, the best way we can support their learning is to allow them the time and guidance to actively explore. 

Before introducing Moshi as a new part of the bedtime routine, carve out time for your child to get to know the characters.

Moshlings are the stars of Moshi and children’s imaginations. The images of the Moshlings in the app are adorable and relatable, and the colors are appealing to small eyes. A sensory exploration of new things is foundational for learning at a young age. Make the most out of your child’s natural curiosity! 

Here are a few tips that will give your child time and space to explore the Moshi app before it is used as part of the bedtime routine:

Choose a special time

• Allow your child sufficient time to go through the app with your support.
• Perhaps this is during a less rushed weekend morning or an afternoon activity before dinner prep begins.
• Guide your child through all that the Moshi world offers and don’t rush the process.
• Allow your child to look at all of the images, say what they notice, ask questions, get excited, and generally investigate the app. 
  
  

Ask questions

During this exploration with your child, use open-ended questions and statements. This will help build excitement and anticipation and also help them get familiar with the content. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Let’s see how many different Moshlings we can find. 
• What do you notice about the Moshlings? 
• Point out the daytime and nighttime content. What do you notice about the colors? 
• Which Moshling is your favorite? Let’s see how many times we can find them. 
• Point out that there are long stories and short stories, music, and everyday sounds and that you’re going to explore them a little. Play a few minutes of each. Ask your child what they notice and which one helped them feel most calm. 

Make a list

After you’ve successfully explored the Moshi app, make a playlist together in the app of the content that seems most calming to listen to during the bedtime routine. This will alleviate the need to go through the entire app, prolonging the winding down process. Remember, there is also no harm in listening to the same story repeatedly. This offers children the opportunity to absorb the language and the storyline, and imagine themselves in the world of Moshi. 

Repeat the exploration process

If you notice that your child is trending toward wanting to look at the app and go through the content at bedtime, take a bit more time during the day to explore the app again. Your child is now more familiar with the Moshi world and will likely notice new, different things. They may be more purposeful in their searching, looking for a specific Moshling they recently met, like Ping, or finding music from their favorite stories and creating a playlist. The opportunities to learn and grow using Moshi are endless. 

Allison Henry