Amazon Glow is here, and it forever changes the way kids stay connected with loved ones across the country or the city. Glow’s projector creates a 19-inch, touch-sensitive space for little ones to enjoy hands-on activities while adults simultaneously—and remotely—join in the fun, with a free companion app available on a tablet or smartphone they already own. Through Amazon Kids+, kids can connect to remote loved ones on a Glow video call to play games, solve puzzles, create art projects, read books, and explore new digital adventures together. Glow blends the physical and digital worlds, creating an experience that feels like sitting side-by-side, and is designed to foster quality interactive time between children and loving adults.
Families that had early access to Glow quickly embraced the “practically there” experience and encouraged kids to enjoy time with pre-approved family members—grandparents, aunts, uncles—whether they lived across the country or across town. Glow can also help parents erase the miles when work requires that they miss important daily moments, like family breakfast, homework help, after-school fun, and bedtime stories.
No more missed bedtime stories
Parents wish they could tuck their children into bed each night—but when that’s not possible, they get creative. According to new research* 64% of parents surveyed said they used a virtual solution to stay in touch with their little ones, including video chats (45%), phone calls (44%), and texts (33%). But even those solutions are far from perfect.
“More than half the parents we surveyed said their kids had trouble staying engaged during traditional video-chatting calls,” said Joerg Tewes, general manager, Amazon Glow. “The Glow experience solves this, and is designed to let kids be kids in a world of animated games, vacuum erasers, scanning magic, and more that allows kids to do things with their parents rather than just listening. This playful learning helps working parents and extended family members develop deeper bonds with the children in their lives.
“Glow is on a mission to make kids’ lives better by fostering connections between children and their family, no matter where they are,” Tewes added. “As part of product development, we were influenced by child-development research that shows regular, active, and interactive play between children and loving adults can improve the lives of young children. This research inspired the new-to-world Glow experience that combines traditional video calling with an interactive, supersized, projected surface like no other that excites kids and delights grown-ups with all they can do together.”
Adults use their smartphone or tablet to access the free Glow app, while the child uses Glow’s 19-inch, touch-sensitive projected space, which appears on the Glow mat. Glow is designed so that each person has a clear view of the other as they simultaneously engage in real-time activities.
Introducing Glow to parents who travel
Glow surprised a group of working parents who know the pain of being away from their families: long-haul drivers. These drivers, who on average spend two to three weeks away from their families at a time (according to CDL.com, a leading industry resource for U.S. trucking job opportunities), are often away from home for up to 300 nights a year—meaning they may miss 300 bedtimes with their kids. These parents and kids were the first to be invited to the Glow mobile station to see Glow fun firsthand, and some were even provided a free Glow device for their family.
“Long-haul truckers know firsthand how challenging it is to stay connected with their children while on the road,'' said Tewes. “We decided to surprise families at the Mid-America Trucking Show to show these hard-working families how Glow can help erase the miles and make virtual together time more fun for everyone.”
The Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky has brought together more than 70,000 truck drivers and their families to explore innovative new technology and connect with others in the industry.
“I’m definitely not a traditional mom. I’m on the road for four weeks at a time,” said Marcia Luchenbill, an Army combat veteran and mother of three who has been a truck driver for the past two years. “It’s calming to be on the road alone, but I miss real conversations with my family, cooking in the comfort of my own kitchen, and being able to cheer on my kids in their special moments.”
Ready, set, Glow!
Powered by Amazon Kids+, Glow has content featuring beloved characters from Disney, Pixar, Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, and Mattel—and provides parents, aunts, uncles, family friends, and grandparents with fun ways to delight and teach the young ones in their lives.
With an Amazon Kids+ subscription, kids can use interactive Glow calls to engage with loved ones on another device. Some of the games and activities available include:
- Play games like ABC Charades, Chess, Checkers, Crazy Eights, Jigsaw, Memory Match, Rocket Racers, Whac-A-Mole, and more.
- Read thousands of books, including beautiful picture books, chapter books, and Animated Storybooks—created by Disney, specifically for Glow—based on some of Disney and Pixar’s most popular films.
- Create and collaborate on a virtual gallery of artwork, and add more fun by scanning in objects to create digital stickers.
- Blend the physical and digital worlds with Glow Bits, learnings kits sold separately. The first Glow Bits learning kit is Tangram Bits, where kids use physical shapes and their remote family member uses digital shapes to solve puzzles together.
Many games and activities on Glow are also designed for siblings in the same house to play side-by-side or on their own if a remote family member is not available to connect on Glow.
For more details and information and content updates, follow @AmazonGlow on Instagram and and show us how your family is having fun with the device by using #AmazonGlow.
*Survey method: This random double-opt-in survey of 1,500 U.S. parents of children aged 3–9 and 500 U.S. parents who are away from home at least one week per month was commissioned by Amazon Glow on February 22, 2022. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact policano@amazon.com.
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