Meaningful Play

This project aims to improve the design of a toy product to increase user engagement and make children's play experiences more meaningful. Ethnographic work in a family setting with parents and kids allows for intimate observation of how the toy came into play in various parent-children interactional contexts. I conducted six home observations with each lasting for six to seven hours.

Objectives

What constitutes high-quality and meaningful play in early childhood?
How does the meaning of play evolve at different stages of children's development?
What types of play emerge as valuable trends, and why?

Research Process

Context inquiry

I observed and recorded how parents are involved in the different forms of play. I used the observations to prompt discussion with the parents on their interpretation and evaluation of the kid's play quality, their aspirations for ideal plays, and their current struggles.

Semi-structured interviews

I invited parents to construct a timeline with me of their observation on their kids' developmental phases and the features of play in each phase.

I also probed into the parents' own childhood memories and how they viewed the parenting they received as kids to situate their parenting values in the life history.

Online excursion

Online shopping excursion demonstrated to me the typical steps of parents' toy purchase. This helped me to understand what shapes their ideas for toy selection.

Deliverables

Storyboard of children-toy interactions in Figjam (Content intentionally blurred due to NDA)

Fast early childhood development requires refined and tailored toy designs to promote effective learning

“A kid at this stage of life (1-3 yrs) changes too fast. You see monthly changes or even daily changes to her. One day she was still a toddler, the next day she can walk and utter words. I just can’t track her changes in longer term. It really made me admire how we evolve as humans.”

Creativity matters in play, but cultivating creativity is a systematic process

“A three-year-old is not developed enough to be creative. Creativity happens when at least they have some basic understandings of rules and goals. You can’t just give children a bunch of things to let them be on their own.”

Recommendation

Use a more nuanced age categorization in product design to better "meet children where they are" both physically and mentally.
Take a guided approach to toy design, building a learning curve before diving into creative play. For example, create a fun physical booklet or online visual guidance video to show children how to play.

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