Living Popups: AR That Inspires
(Photograph courtesy of Ella Pravetz, and used with permission.) How can twenty-first century technology teach kids to love to read? Living Popups CEO Cheryl Bayer has an imaginative and entertaining answer. Her Santa Monica-based content platform/media company, Living Popups, has enhanced a beloved classic, The Boxcar Children, with augmented reality animations. Currently, Living Popups has illustrated the first four books in the series with AR, with more to come. When young readers pick up one of these volumes, the four siblings pop up, through the magic of AR, on the cover or the page. Throughout the story, they'll appear to interact, comment and ask questions. And during the coronavirus pandemic, Living Popups is offering free resources to teachers and homeschooling parents. They're also at work on an AR app geared towards mental health. And middle-school classes can look forward to seeing more classic literature where characters come to life through augmented reality experiences. As covered in our 2018 interview, Living Popups is all about bringing stories to life. Their previous apps have included museum experiences where "Leonardo da Vinci" talks about his work, and the world's first AR episodic series shown during a live event: VRLA 2018, in Lost Angeles. Cheryl talked about Living Popups' work, the experience of animating The Boxcar Children with augmented reality, and the ways Living Popups is helping educators and parents through the coronavirus pandemic. On this edition of Over Coffee®, you will hear: How storytelling first captured Cheryl's imagination; What Cheryl and her team are doing to help promote literacy through augmented reality; How the AR app helps with reading retention; What's available for teachers in underprivileged areas; What Living Popups will have available for middle-school students in the future; How teachers can take students on a "virtual field trip" to see the creative process; How Living Popups is planning future lessons in geography and history through AR; A preview of an upcoming mental-health AR app which will be available in the fall; How Cheryl and her team made the 1924 classic book relevant to today's students; Some of the reactions to the new AR apps; Cheryl's vision for helping more teachers and students during the pandemic; How to get involved and support her efforts, if you're in a position to help; A preview of a new product, soon to be coming out for the pandemic; What an average workday is like, for Cheryl and her animators; A preview of some future AR projects.