HOW CAN I CREATE A MEANINGFUL GAME, TOOL, OR EXPERIENCE FOR TEENS?
At iThrive Games, we help you answer this question. Our team leads the design of accessible games, tools, and experiences that advance learning for teens while protecting and promoting their mental health. We use our deep understanding of teens' social and emotional needs and the science behind how they learn best to help our clients reach and engage them in transformative, wellness-supporting ways, creating:Â
OUR CO-DESIGN MODEL WITH TEENS IS CARE IN ACTION.
The collaborative design approach we bring to our clients and partners pulls together the genius of developers, thought leaders, industry experts, and, most importantly, teens themselves. Our co-design model is a strengths-based UX research method devised with teen mental health and learning experts. It revolutionizes the typical focus group with strategies that create a supportive context for discovery where teens feel safe, seen, and heard in relation to the issues they care about. With each design session, we continue to​​ build on our nuanced understandings of what young people want and need. This insight and  our expertise steer the design process, ensuring what we create together is accessible and impacts young people positively.
DISASTER MIND
iThrive Games created Disaster Mind with the FEMA to increase its reach to young audiences in underserved and rural communities. The game supports teens' emergency preparedness and is slated to launch in late 2023.
OUR THREADS
100+ questions and eight connective ways to play. Our Threads, created by Fugees Family, Inc. and iThrive Games, is a card game that helps groups uncover their throughlines and learn more about each other in fun, movement-rich ways.
CADENCE FORD
Cadence Ford is a text-based strategy video game co-created with the One Love Foundation that teaches players how to love better and be with partners who practice healthy love. The game released in the App Store in October 2023. Download and play it here.
WHY US
Our expertise in teen mental health and learning, our collaborative, teen-centered approach and process, and our unwavering commitment to nurturing and nourishing teens.
RESOURCES
Explore our free games, game-based resources, and social and emotional learning experiences—each made with and for young people.
TEEN HUB
Teens! Join us as a contributor to our design team and get paid for it!
iThrive Games has received the following awards and recognition, shared with our teen co-designers, partners, and clients:
- 2022-2023 Learning Engineering Tools Competition Winner
- 2023 GEE! Learning Games Award Finalist
- Gold, 2022 International Serious Play Award (K-12 Education)
- Silver, 2022 International Serious Play Award (Non-Profit)
- Gold, 2021 American Alliance of Museums MUSE Award
- Gold, 2021 International Serious Play Award (Educational Tabletop Games)
- Bronze, 2021 MuseWeb GLAMi Award
- 2021 EdTech Cool Tool Award Finalist
- 2017 Audience Choice Award, Stanford University School of Medicine
TEENS ARE THE EXPERTS AT THE TABLE WHEN WE DESIGN.
At iThrive Games, we value teens and support their inquiry and imagination. We center their voices throughout our design process, inviting them to play an active role in defining, designing, developing, and testing resonant, memorable, and wellness-supporting games and experiences intended for young people like them. Teens are engaged as experts from start to finish, develop their own knowledge and skills while designing, and are compensated for their ingenuity and wisdom.
WITH OUR CLIENTS AND COLLABORATORS, WE'RE ACCELERATING PROGRESS TOWARD A WORLD WHERE YOUNG PEOPLE ARE AUTHENTICALLY SUPPORTED AND VALUED.
Our team sees any opportunity to create with and for teens as an opportunity to also support their social and emotional skill-building—a practice proven to protect and promote their mental health. iThrive Games' clients rely on and t​​rust our social and emotional learning expertise as we manage and direct the design process for them from start to finish. We act as an extension of our clients' teams, working transparently and in close collaboration with project partners, developers, and collaborators to create impactful games, tools, exhibitions, and experiences for young people.
Join our Designing for Teen Thriving mailing list for insights and downloadable resources from iThrive's adolescent development and teen mental health experts that help you create nourishing, meaningful experiences for teens.
READ THE LATEST FROM OUR BLOG:
Using SEL Tech in Classrooms? Five Questions Every Educator Should Ask
iThrive Sim: A Game-Changing Tool for Adolescent Research
Turning FEMA’s Lifeline Info Into an Immersive Game with iThrive Sim
iThrive Games Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that creates games, tools, and learning experiences with and for teens that advance their learning and promote their mental health.
