We recently added something new from Sphero to our store and, surprisingly, it’s not really much of a robot at all. Though known for designing some of the most useful tools in robotics education in the Sphero SPRK and Sphero BOLT, this item from Sphero certainly has a different twist. We’re talking about the Sphero Specdrums—sets of music-making rings that kids (or adults) can place around their fingers and create music anytime and, more importantly, in any place. With lots of potential for cool content creation, the Specdrums represent a unique spin on tech and active education.
To keep with the theme of active learning, the Specdrums certainly promote just that. When using these devices, kids are free to move around just about anywhere they’d like and free to get creative with how they create music. That’s because the Specdrums can turn any of the common colors into music from a simple tap. As kids tap a color while wearing the Specdrums rings around their fingers, technology inside of them converts the vibration into music, allowing students to become creative composers.
The Specdrums come with a playing pad included in the box, which features some bright colors for kids to use in their music making. However, if they want to get a bit more creative than that, the Specdrums are able to pick up bright colors from the environments kids learn and play in every day. Even though the Specdrums are pretty small in size, they’re able to mimic the functions of drums and keyboards while playing a near infinite number of sounds. These include the ones that students create themselves!
To us, the feature that’s most impressive about the Specdrums is the portability they provide. This helps make interactive learning more accessible to students and enables a tactile way for kids to create music. Plus, the experiences kids have when using the Specdrums can certainly translate to the development of authentic music skills in the future, possibly even ultimately inspiring them to pursue music composition! Since it’s a very tactile tool, students are able to create a connection between their minds and their hands, ensuring that they compose the sounds they want and develop a knack for hands-on learning.
To create music with Specdrums, students will need to download the Specdrums MIX app on their device. It is available on both the Apple Store and Google Play Store. Once they’ve launched the app on their device and paired it with their Specdrums, students can start tapping on anything to create music while the rings are placed around their fingers! The kit comes with a Quick Start Guide so students can learn about how to create music and how to best navigate the Specdrums MIX app. Within the app, kids can record the songs they play and save them in their own personal library.
Also included in the kit is the play pad, a USB charging cable, and a carrying bag. With or without the play pad, students can use the MIX app to produce their own songs. Tracks are toggled on and off as they tap various colors around them with the rings and they can even control the sound associated with each color. As they get more familiar with the Specdrums MIX app and with creating their own music, students can progress to saving custom sound packs and connect multiple rings to use at the same time (if they’d only been using one).
The Sphero team created the Specdrums so that students could make the world their instrument—whether that’s during the school year or during the summer. To try out this innovative technology or to explore any of the other tech tools from Sphero, click below. They are available in packs of two or 12. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram as well so you know when we update our offerings with new items from Sphero and all our other partners.