Touchscreen mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, have become internationally ubiquitous for young children. There has been increasing effort and popularity in research and industry to understand, design and test digital games and activities (Kabali et al., 2015). Recommendations have also shifted from preventing screen time holistically to more constructive views of providing meaningful content to facilitate learning outcomes (Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015). Indeed, educational mobile applications, shortened as ‘educational apps’, have witnessed an exponential growth followed by the rising concerns over their quality, efficacy, and influence on child development (Common Sense Media, 2013). Recent meta-analysis has reported clear learning benefits for early academic skills, particularlyin young children’s mathematics and literacy knowledge (Griffith et al., 2020). Moreover, non-app related factors have been shown to impact the efficacy of educational apps; in terms of demographics, preschool children and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds seem to benefit the most (Common Sense Media, 2013; Kim et al., 2021). Research has also considered the way in which children engage with digital learning and highlighted the advantage of parent-child co-use ofdigital media (Taylor et al., 2023).Children acquire, practice and perfect their cognitive and learning development through play and experts of game-based learning have argued that conventional educational principles can and should be applied to the digital environment (Bang et al., 2023). Notably, a key component in both traditional and digital learning is to support and adapt forchildren’s ‘zone of proximal development’ (ZPD, Vygotsky, 1978) where task difficulty should be above their current capacity but within reach for progress (Plass & Pawar, 2020). In digital environment, open-ended play context provides the learning structure where children are able to explore content freely (Hatzigianni, 2018). Despite the differences in how learning materials are presented and communicated, educational apps should, in principle, provide similar experiences as to traditional pedagogy settings where there are opportunities for tailored feedbacks and interactions (Mulliner & Tucker, 2017).

Ning Ding et alEDURINO, developed by an EdTech start-up based in Munich, is an educational app for children aged 4-8 and it aims to support school readiness and fine motor skills. Currently, there are seven subject areas, namely Mathematics, Literacy, Nature & Science, Human Body Biology, Coding, Social Emotion Learning and Creative Arts, with content available in both German and English. A unique feature of EDURINO is the use of a stylus pen. Pen-holding gesture has been associated with early writing ability (Rowe, 2019), which inspired the development of EDURINO’s ‘magic pen’ (Figure 1). The ergonomic pen supports different pen-holding grips and was specifically designed to train children’s handwriting gesture and fine motor skills. In terms of learning content, EDURINO has holistic as well as detailed scope and sequences of learning objectives, which are in line with country-specific curriculum, for example the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework in the UK. EDURINO’s content structure is also informedby pedagogical theories of learning trajectories (Simon, 1995) and mastery/competent-based learning approach (Plass & Pawar, 2020). More importantly, for better engagement and learning outcomes, all materials are presented in a playful and engaging digital platform with clear context and narratives (Fisch et al., 2012). After the initial steps of account registration and setting up parental control features, children can explore and play EDURINO games in a self-guided way without parental engagement and guidance. The overarching aim of the current study was to investigate EDURINO’s efficacy and quantify its educational benefits among the target audience (children aged between 4-8). It was also of research and industry’s interests to examine the role of players’ demographics on the app’s efficacy. To this end, we selected a range of demographic and app-related factors that have been identified in the literature. Specifically, we included measures of child age group, child gender, parental education, subject area of EDURINO games, parental engagement style and length of playing. Given it was the first empirical research conducted on EDURINO, the study was exploratory with no specific and prior assumptions. In the current study, first we utilised a quantitative instrument to examine parents’ evaluation of the app and content (Study 1); second, we administered a parent-reported survey focusing on the educational benefits of playing EDURINO (Study 2). Specifically, we explored the following research questions:1.What is the educational potential of EDURINO, and whether demographic and app-related factors influence parents’ evaluation? 2.Do children show any developmental improvements after playing EDURINO, if so whether the educational benefits are affected by any demographic or app-related factors?

The current research provides first evidence that EDURINO, a game-based learning app for children aged 4-8, can significantly improve young children’s school readiness of behavioural adjustment, cognitive and language development as well as fine motor skills. The app demonstrates strong and holistic educational potential with its meaningful and developmentally appropriate learning content and user-friendly app feature. On a broader level, the study not only highlights areas for ongoing refinements to EDURINO but also offers actionable insights to the EdTech industry.