Oliver and I were in Chicago last week for the annual Interaction Design and Children (IDC) conference. IDC brings together researchers whose work focuses on understanding and improving how technologies are designed for children. I presented my research group’s paper about Locus, a mobile application that seeks to break the link between social media use and adverse mental health outcomes in teens by reorienting social media experiences toward meaningful interactions and away from habitual use (see last week’s post for more details about Locus).
Oliver and I encountered a bunch of loose parts during our trip. Some were analog, others digital. Some we discovered at the conference, others we found while exploring the city. (See earlier posts here and here for a recap of loose parts play and the benefits for children’s development).
I’ve chosen two examples, one digital, one analog, to share in this post. For the first, Oliver had a chance to try out the Osmo Kaleidoscope that was a featured demo at the conference. Kids use everyday objects and toys–such as Oliver’s dinosaur figurine in the picture below–to create their own digital kaleidoscopes. Technically, the Osmo Kaleidoscope combines both analog and digital loose parts, making it a great example of how digital technologies can–with some very thoughtful design–be incorporated into children’s analog play experiences.
The second example is purely analog and comes from our trip to the Chicago Children’s Museum, which has a fantastic Tinkering Lab full of loose parts. Oliver created “Mr. Cat” from a tissue box (body), pipe cleaners (ears and nose), plastic bottle caps (eyes and hind legs), wooden sticks (front legs) a twisted piece of wire (for the tail), and lots of duct tape.
What about you? What sorts of loose parts have you (and/or the children in your lives) encountered lately in the analog and digital worlds?
