Elfenworks Foundation Releases New App “The Breathing Butterfly," Which Provides Real Road for Kids to Cope with Stress
Burlingame, CA (PRWEB) March 24, 2015 -- The Elfenworks Foundation announced today the release of the “Breathing Butterfly” app, created in collaboration with the developers at Tip-Tok. The Breathing Butterfly is designed with children in mind to aid in relaxation and relief for anxious bodies. Soothing music is combined with gentle animation and (optional) supportive dialog in a variety of language choices to promote calm, regular breathing and cultivate coping skills for greater well-being. Following the animation, children can choose to play a tranquil game, in which they follow a softly fluttering butterfly as it flies through beautiful skies, collecting points along the way. Once all the points are collected, a surprise awaits! This simple game is meant to teach children to relax, breathe, and enjoy the moment. The meditation dialog is available in 22 different languages and players can choose from four styles of wings for their butterfly.
The Breathing Butterfly has been a key Elfenworks project since 2009. When building the website for Stanford University’s Center on Poverty and Inequality, Elfenworks programmers were made aware of research on stress cortisol in children of poverty, and the protective effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) exercises.
“All sorts of kids today are facing a wide variety of stressors. In affluent neighborhoods, expectations about achievement and peer pressure can take a heavy toll. And kids living in poverty can have higher rates of traumatic stress than our country’s veterans,” said project creator Lauren Speeth. “We’d call it PTSD, but the word ‘post-traumatic’ implies that the trauma is over. Often, stress is ongoing. We aim to give kids the life skills they need to optimize long-term health outcomes.”
To that end, both the script and animation were tested with children and with subject matter experts, and supplementary material added. The app was developed in partnership with Tip-Tok, a team with a successful history creating joy-filled children’s apps, with a goal to release it free of charge. Along with the tools available at http://www.elfenworks.org/butterfly and the main Elfenworks website, this app can help make a positive difference in a child’s life, today. Spread the word, and…never underestimate your ripple!
Teachers, press, or other interested parties, contact Cedra Wright, Project Manager, butterfly(at)elfenworks(dot)org or contact us at elfenworks.org.
About The Elfenworks Foundation —“In Harmony with Hope”
Elfenworks works to foster intelligent compassion in action and to cultivate hope through creative and technological solutions that advance change. We identify unmet needs and bring together the necessary expertise through creative partnerships to address those needs, amplifying project successes. In addition to the Breathing Butterfly, current projects include cultivating student filmmakers, teaching social entrepreneurship, a “For Our Time” collaborative peace-building song project, national awards programs, and a forthcoming platform to help enhance IT Security for nonprofits. While they may seem far-ranging, they all share a methodology and the same overarching goal: to help hope to grow. Find out more, at http://www.elfenworks.org.
About Tip-Tok
Tip-Tok is a creative development studio comprised of a veteran team with more than 20 years of experience putting together fun and visually entertaining mobile apps and desktop games. Past clients and projects from our team include Warner Bros, Disney, Sprout, Nickelodeon, Paramount Studios, FOX kids, Busy Bee Studios, Mattel, and many others. Tip-Tok offers complete game packaging, full-service game design and development for mobile and web, including original concepts and character design. Services can range from art, animation, and music to multi-target platform delivery, including web and mobile, SFX and music, for multi-target platform delivery. The developers are at ease working with existing brands as well as original concepts. Find out more, at http://www.tip-tok.com.
Cedra Wright, The Elfenworks Foundation, http://www.elfenworks.org/butterfly, +1 (650) 347-9700, [email protected]
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