Pico Christmas Tree AR

Part of the excitement of Christmas for a child is the decorating of the Christmas tree.  This event marks the start of children's excitement for the season and they enjoy the fun and creativity of hanging the decorations.  Children, however, if they enjoy something, don't like to do it only once and yet that is the nature of decorating the tree.  The job is done and it must sit untouched until the season is over.

Pico Christmas Tree AR lets children continue their seasonal creativity again and again.  Within the app is a virtual Christmas tree just waiting to be decorated.  

The on-screen tree that it provides can be rotated and scaled.  It can be adorned with a large variety of glittery baubles and Christmas-themed figures.  These items come in a variety of different colours so that a tree can be a riot of colour or display a carefully selected colour scheme.  A starter set comes with the app but further ones can be added through in-app purchases

It is easy to use the app and children will quickly pick up the controls.  The decorations are dragged and dropped onto the ends of branches helpfully indicated by place markers.  A separate set of controls rotates and scales the tree by swiping.

Decorating the tree is good creative fun but the app has two innovative features that enhance the process further.  

The first is the ability to make the decorating a shared activity - just like the real thing.  Two devices on a shared Wi-Fi can link together to share the decorating of a single tree.  

The second is that, for devices with the appropriate technology within them, an augmented reality representation of the tree can be seen.  The user's environment is viewed through the device's camera and screen and a spot is chosen for the tree.  From this point on, the tree is firmly placed in this digitally enhanced scene.  It can be walked around and viewed from different sides and angles.  It works well and is easy to set up although certain room layouts can take a little bit of experimentation for the app to be able to carry out all of its calculations to add the tree to the scene.

The final design can be saved and a picture captured preserving the tree in its environment from whichever viewpoint the user desires.

This app does exactly what it sets out to do.  It provides a creative outlet for children who have become enthralled by the idea of decorating trees for Christmas.  

Is this educational?

It would be hard to argue that fun is not the prime motive of this app, which is no bad thing, but children learn by doing all sorts of activities.  Those of an artistic inclination will see how colours can be matched to work best, compare busy designs with minimalist ones, and design a tree that works with the decor of each room in their home.  Sharing the decoration of a single tree will encourage children to work together and share their ideas.

Christmas is a yearly event but decorating a tree need not be.  Pico Christmas Tree AR is a fun seasonal app that will, no doubt be popular each December as young children grow up.