Ping the Spider a multi faceted educational project focused on helping children, especially special needs children, achieve the highest level of success through a series of books, games, collectable cards, computer coding lessons, board games and interactive website. The components feature a series of characters designed to provide a fun filled learning experience to children utilizing a varied array of interactive media.
Ping
The main character is Ping. Ping is a spider whose particular challenge is a physical disability. Ping has six legs rather than the usual eight.
Cappie the Caterpillar
Cappie is a caterpillar who has a stutter. She is bashful and has difficulty communicating with others.
Citrus the Centipede
Citrus is a centipede who loves to collect shoes. You can hear him in his boots stomping down the street. He has an anger issue and is always mad at the world.
Clipper the Cricket
Clipper is a cricket without a voice. He is unable to speak in large groups and only communicate by making clicks with his legs.
Zippy Yellow and Dropsy
Zippy is a jumping spider. He is always running and jumping but has difficulty concentrating and is distracted easily. Dropsy is also a jumping spider and Zippy’s brother. Dropsy is unable to move as rapidly as Zippy. Dropsy has a reading problem and difficulty with numbers.
Lady Lisa
Lisa is a lady, not a bug or a bird. She likes to collect things like hats but is unable to part with anything she collects.
Mr. Ping and Mrs. Ping
Mr. and Mrs. Ping are Ping’s parents. They always help Ping and friends do the right thing.
Perfuma
Perfuma is a Spanish/French purple jumping spider. She is able to speak two languages and is trying to learn English.
Glopsi the Glow Bug
Glopsi is a glow bug who is unable to tun off his glow despite trying repeatedly to do so.
Winston the Wacky Worm
Winston is a worm who is considered the clumsy village clown. He bumps in to everything.
Ping has a three prong mission:
- Education - to educate. Inform and inspire learning,
- Social Responsibility - to equip children to understand and address a variety of issues including physical and cognitive challenges, bullying, diversity and differences.
- Fun - the project is designed to provide a fun filled experience for the user while addressing the first two fundamentals.
The Ping components employ a series of characters designed to instruct and entertain. Ping the Spider is the main character in the series. Ping is a spider with a physical disability he must overcome to thrive and succeed. Children relate to Ping and his friends in a variety of ways and are inspired by his experiences to conquer their challenges and fears, become more adept at understanding and in interacting with others. The technology in Ping the Spider provides a significant advantage using a variety of time tested learning techniques incorporated into the various components. The lessons are presented in a fun, engaging manner with a series of relatable characters. An example is the Orton-Gillingham Multisensory Approach which has been in use since the 1930s. It is an intensive, sequential phonics-based system that teaches the basics of word formation before whole meanings. The method accommodates and utilizes three learning modalities, or pathways, through which people learn visually, auditory and kinesthetically. Ping teaches withbooks, both text and online narrated books, collectable cards, interactive games and website and educational computer coding lessons with more features currently in development. The goal is to teach in a fun and engaging way where children can proceed at their own speed on a path to success.
