Toddlers are inquisitive by nature. Everything must be touched, poked and tasted in order to get a full understanding (at least for them) of what things are. Sound also plays a big role in their lives, the sound of parents voices, giggling keys and music bring smiles and incoherent ‘gurgling’ sounds of delight.

Combining both touch and sound is a no-brainer when it comes to a child’s learning experience and Shawn Kahandaliyanage did just that with his Song Blocks toddler-friendly Sonos controller. Seeing how his son had an interest in the hi-fi wireless audio system, Shawn devised a way that would allow his son to interact with the platform and thus Song Blocks was born.

The platform consists of 12 numbered wooden blocks, each outfitted with a magnet and NFC tag. When a block is placed on a particular drawer, each backed by a series of magnets and an NFC controller board, a Raspberry Pi B+ reads the tag and plays a corresponding song. It also sends out a tweet of both the song and the artist to @songblocks for those interested. To see more visit Shawn’s GitHub breakdown.