research-article

Designing IoT Resources to Support Outdoor Play for Children

Authors:

Abigail C. Durrant,

Pablo E. Torres,

Philip I. N. Ulrich,

Mutlu Cukurova,

Shaun LawsonAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1 - 12

https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376302

Published: 23 April 2020 Publication History

Abstract

We describe a Research-through-Design (RtD) project that explores the Internet of Things (IoT) as a resource for children's free play outdoors. Based on initial insights from a design ethnography, we developed four RtD prototypes for social play in different scenarios of use outdoors, including congregating on a street or in a park to play physical games with IoT. We observed these prototypes in use by children in their free play in two community settings, and report on the qualitative analysis of our fieldwork. Our findings highlight the designs' material qualities that encouraged social and physical play under certain conditions, suggesting social affordances that are central to the success of IoT designs for free play outdoors. We provide directions for future research that addresses the challenges faced when deploying IoT with children, contributing new considerations for interaction design with children in outdoor settings and free play contexts.

References

[1]

Guy Claxton and Margaret Carr. 2004. A framework for teaching learning: the dynamics of disposition. Early Years 24, 1: 87--97. https://doi.org/10.1080/09575140320001790898

[2]

Jon Back, Caspar Heeffer, Susan Paget, Andreas Rau, Eva Lotta Sallnäs Pysander, and Annika Waern. 2016. Designing for children's outdoor play. DIS 2016 Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Fuse: 28--38. https://doi.org/10.1145/2901790.2901875

Digital Library

[3]

Jon Back, Laia Turmo Vidal, Annika Waern, Susan Paget, and Eva Lotta Sallnäs Pysander. 2018. Playing close to home: Interaction and emerging play in outdoor play installations. In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173730

Digital Library

[4]

Ed Baines and Peter Blatchford. 2012. Children's Games and Playground Activities in School and Their Role in Development. In The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Play. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195393002.013.0020

[5]

BBC. 2019. "Hackable" karaoke and walkie talkie toys found by Which? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-50686543

[6]

Colin Boreham and Chris Riddoch. 2001. The physical activity, fitness and health of children. Journal of Sports Sciences 19, 12: 915--929. https://doi.org/10.1080/026404101317108426

[7]

Mark Bridge, Anna Lombardi, and Sam Joiner. 2018. Smart toys are spying on children. The Times. Retrieved from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/smart-toys-spyingon-children-nc03d8xbm

[8]

Hillary L. Burdette, Robert C. Whitaker, and Stephen R. Daniels. 2004. Parental Report of Outdoor Playtime as a Measure of Physical Activity in Preschool-aged Children. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.158.4.353

[9]

J Busby. 1994. The Importance of Free Play: A Research Study of 'Free Play Time' in a Playground. Early Years 15, 1: 54--58. https://doi.org/10.1080/0957514940150109tle

[10]

Joy Cullen. 1993. Preschool children's use and perceptions of outdoor play areas. Early Child Development and Care 89, 1: 45--56. https://doi.org/10.1080/0300443930890104

[11]

Thomas Dylan, Abigail Durrant, Gavin Wood, Sena Çerçi, Denise Downey, Jonny Scott, John Vines, and Shaun Lawson. 2019. Play Poles: Towards IoT Resources for Outdoor Play. In Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '19), 1293--1305. https://doi.org/10.1145/3322276.3323693

Digital Library

[12]

Daniel Fallman. 2008. The Interaction Design Research Triangle of Design Practice, Design Studies, and Design Exploration. Design Issues 24, 3: 4--18. https://doi.org/10.1162/desi.2008.24.3.4

[13]

Frost J. 2006. the Dissolution of Children'S Outdoor Play. 1--26.

[14]

Karla I. Galaviz, Deena Zytnick, Michelle C. Kegler, and Solveig A. Cunningham. 2016. Parental perception of neighborhood safety and children's physical activity. Journal of Physical Activity and Health 13, 10: 1110--1116. https://doi.org/10.1123/jpah.2015-0557

[15]

Bill Gaver and John Bowers. 2012. Annotated portfolios. Interactions. https://doi.org/10.1145/2212877.2212889

Digital Library

[16]

William Gaver. 2012. What should we expect from research through design? In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1145/2207676.2208538

Digital Library

[17]

Angela Hanscom. 2016. Balanced and Barefoot: How Unrestricted Outdoor Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children. . New Harbinger, UK.

[18]

Juliana Gruenwald Henderson. 2018. Electronic Toy Maker VTech Settles FTC Allegations That it Violated Children's Privacy Law and the FTC Act. Federal Trade Comission. Retrieved from https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/pressreleases/2018/01/electronic-toy-maker-vtech-settlesftc-allegations-it-violated

[19]

Trina Hinkley, Helen Brown, Valerie Carson, and Megan Teychenne. 2018. Cross sectional associations of screen time and outdoor play with social skills in preschool children. PLoS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193700

[20]

Trina Hinkley, Megan Teychenne, Katherine L. Downing, Kylie Ball, Jo Salmon, and Kylie D. Hesketh. 2014. Early childhood physical activity, sedentary behaviors and psychosocial well-being: A systematic review. Preventive Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.02.007

[21]

Tom Hitron, Itamar Apelblat, Iddo Wald, Eitan Moriano, Andrey Grishko, Idan David, Avihay Bar, and Oren Zuckerman. 2017. Scratch nodes: Coding outdoor play experiences to enhance social-physical interaction. In IDC 2017 - Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Interaction Design and Children. https://doi.org/10.1145/3078072.3084331

Digital Library

[22]

Tom Hitron, Andrey Grishko, Idan David, Iddo Yehoshua Wald, Oren Zuckerman, Netta Ofer, and Hadas Erel. 2018. Digital Outdoor play: Benefits and risks from an interaction design perspective. In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3173858

Digital Library

[23]

J. Howard and K. Mcinnes. 2013. The impact of children's perception of an activity as play rather than not play on emotional well-being. Child: Care, Health and Development 39, 5: 737--742. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365--2214.2012.01405.x

[24]

Pam Jarvis, Stephen Newman, and Louise Swiniarski. 2014. On ?becoming social': the importance of collaborative free play in childhood. International Journal of Play. https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2013.863440

[25]

Bran Knowles, Sophie Beck, Joe Finney, James Devine, and Joseph Lindley. 2019. A Scenario-Based Methodology for Exploring Risks: Children and Programmable IoT. In Proceedings of the 2019 on Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '19), 751--761. https://doi.org/10.1145/3322276.3322315

Digital Library

[26]

Solana Larsen, Sam Burton, Kasia Odrozek, Stefan Back, and Jairus Khan. 2019. *Privacy Included: Rethinking the Smart Home. Mozilla Internet Health Report. Retrieved from https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacy-included/

[27]

Helen Little. 2015. Mothers' beliefs about risk and risk-taking in children's outdoor play. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning 15, 1: 24--39. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2013.842178

[28]

Helen Little and Shirley Wyver. 2008. Outdoor Play: Does Avoiding the Risks Reduce the Benefits? Australian Journal of Early Childhood 33.

[29]

JOHN H. McKENDRICK, MICHAEL G. BRADFORD, and ANNA V. FIELDER. 2000. Kid Customer?: Commercialization of Playspace and the Commodification of Childhood. Childhood 7, 3: 295-- 314. https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568200007003004

[30]

Stephen Moss. 2012. Natural Childhood. Swindon, UK. Retrieved from https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/documents/read-ournatural-childhood-report.pdf

[31]

OfCom. 2013. Children and Parents: Media Use and Attitudes. Ofcom, October: 220. Retrieved from http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/me dia-literacy/october-2013/research07Oct2013.pdf

[32]

Netta Ofer, Idan David, Hadas Erel, and Oren Zuckerman. 2019. Coding for Outdoor Play: A Coding Platform for Children to Invent and Enhance Outdoor Play Experiences. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '19), 164:1--164:12. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300394

Digital Library

[33]

Sharon Anne Ogilvie-whyte. 2004. An Actor-Network Theory Approach.

[34]

Caterina Pesce, Ilaria Masci, Rosalba Marchetti, Spyridoula Vazou, Arja Sääkslahti, and Phillip D. Tomporowski. 2016. Deliberate play and preparation jointly benefit motor and cognitive development: Mediated and moderated effects. Frontiers in Psychology 7, MAR. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00349

[35]

Sue Robson and Victoria Rowe. 2012. Observing young children's creative thinking: Engagement, involvement and persistence. International Journal of Early Years Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2012.743098

[36]

Joan Santer, Carol Griffi, and Deborah Goodall. 2007. Free Play in Early Childhood: A Literature Review. Play England: Making Space for Play. Retrieved from http://www.playengland.org.uk/media/120426/freeplay-in-early-childhood.pdf

[37]

Iris Soute, Susanne Lagerström, and Panos Markopoulos. 2013. Rapid prototyping of outdoor games for children in an iterative design process. In ACM International Conference Proceeding Series. https://doi.org/10.1145/2485760.2485779

Digital Library

[38]

Iris Soute, Panos Markopoulos, and Remco Magielse. 2010. Head Up Games: Combining the best of both worlds by merging traditional and digital play. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 14, 5: 435--444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-009-0265-0

Digital Library

[39]

Michelle R. Stone and Guy E.J. Faulkner. 2014. Outdoor play in children: Associations with objectively-measured physical activity, sedentary behavior and weight status. Preventive Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.05.008

[40]

Liz Sutton. 2008. The State of Play: Disadvantage, Play and Children's Well-Being. Social Policy and Society. https://doi.org/10.1017/s147474640800448x

[41]

H Tovey. 2014. Exploring outdoor play in the early years. In T Maynard and J Waters (eds.). Open University Press, Maidenhead, 16--28.

[42]

Jayne Wallace, Anja Thieme, Gavin Wood, Guy Schofield, and Patrick Olivier. 2012. Enabling self, intimacy and a sense of home in dementia: An enquiry into design in a hospital setting. In Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1145/2207676.2208654

Digital Library

[43]

Gavin Wood, Thomas Dylan, Abigail Durrant, Pablo E Torres, Philip Ulrich, Amanda Carr, Mutlu Cukurova, Denise Downey, Phil McGrath, Madeline Balaam, and et al. 2019. Designing for Digital Playing Out. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '19). https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300909

Digital Library

Cited By

Atabey AWang GJohnston SLin GWilson CUrquhart LZhao J(2024)The Second Workshop on Child-Centered AI Design (CCAI)Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3636305(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3636305
Tikkanen RIivari NPaananen P(2023)Play—An essential part of children’s lives and their computational empowermentFrontiers in Education10.3389/feduc.2022.10887167Online publication date: 21-Feb-2023
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1088716
Carneiro NNunes CRaulino NGomes IAndrade RDarin T(2023)IoT Games and Gamified Systems: Summertime Sadness or Lust for Hype?Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3638067.3638128(1-12)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3638067.3638128
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Designing IoT Resources to Support Outdoor Play for Children
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)

Recommendations

Lanterns: Configuring a Digital Resource to Inspire Preschool Children's Free Play Outdoors
CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Previous HCI research has highlighted opportunities for digital technologies to support outdoor play amongst children. However, the tendency has been to focus on older children and forms of play that are structured and rule-based. We report on a ...
Coding for Outdoor Play: a Coding Platform for Children to Invent and Enhance Outdoor Play Experiences
CHI '19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Outdoor play is in decline, including its benefits to children's development. Coding, a typically indoor, screen-based activity, can potentially enrich outdoor play, serving as a rule-making medium. We present a coding platform that controls a ...
Designing for Digital Playing Out
CHI '19: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

We report on a design-led study in the UK that aimed to understand barriers to children (aged 5 to 14 years) 'playing out' in their neighbourhood and explore the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) for supporting children's free play that extends ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2020

10688 pages

ISBN:9781450367080

DOI:10.1145/3313831

General Chairs:
Regina Bernhaupt
Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands
,
Florian 'Floyd' Mueller
Monash University, Australia
,
David Verweij
Newcastle University, UK
,
Josh Andres
RMIT, Australia
,
Program Chairs:
Joanna McGrenere
University of British Columbia, Canada
,
Andy Cockburn
University of Canterbury, New Zealand
,
Ignacio Avellino
University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA
,
Alix Goguey
Grenoble Alpes University, France
,
Pernille Bjørn
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
,
Shengdong (Shen) Zhao
National University of Singapore, Singapore
,
Briane Paul Samson
Future University Hakodate, Japan & De La Salle University, Philippines
,
Rafal Kocielnik
University of Washington, USA

Copyright © 2020 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 23 April 2020

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Funding Sources

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

Conference

CHI '20

Sponsor:

SIGCHI

CHI '20: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 25 - 30, 2020

HI, Honolulu, USA

Acceptance Rates

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

Upcoming Conference

CHI '25

Sponsor:
sigchi

CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 26 - May 1, 2025

Yokohama , Japan

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

9
Total Citations
View Citations
744
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)88
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)10

Reflects downloads up to 12 Nov 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Atabey AWang GJohnston SLin GWilson CUrquhart LZhao J(2024)The Second Workshop on Child-Centered AI Design (CCAI)Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3636305(1-6)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3636305
Tikkanen RIivari NPaananen P(2023)Play—An essential part of children’s lives and their computational empowermentFrontiers in Education10.3389/feduc.2022.10887167Online publication date: 21-Feb-2023
https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.1088716
Carneiro NNunes CRaulino NGomes IAndrade RDarin T(2023)IoT Games and Gamified Systems: Summertime Sadness or Lust for Hype?Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3638067.3638128(1-12)Online publication date: 16-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3638067.3638128
Zhang CZhou ZHu YLiu LWu JShao YLiu JZhang LLiu LChen HYing FYao C(2023)Observe It, Draw It: Scaffolding Children’s Observations of Plant Biodiversity with an Interactive Drawing ToolProceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3585088.3589380(253-266)Online publication date: 19-Jun-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3585088.3589380
Wang GSun KAtabey APothong KLin GZhao JYip J(2023)Child-Centred AI Design: Definition, Operation, and ConsiderationsExtended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544549.3573821(1-6)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544549.3573821
Read JSim GHorton MFitton D(2022)Reporting Back in HCI Work with ChildrenProceedings of the 21st Annual ACM Interaction Design and Children Conference10.1145/3501712.3535279(517-522)Online publication date: 27-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3501712.3535279
Jones MVon Feldt MAndrus N(2022)Outside Where? A Survey of Climates and Built Environments in Studies of HCI outdoorsProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3507656(1-15)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3491102.3507656
Read JLarusdottir MIslind ASim GFitton D(2022)Tick Box Design: A bounded and packageable co-design method for large workshopsInternational Journal of Child-Computer Interaction10.1016/j.ijcci.2022.10050533(100505)Online publication date: Sep-2022
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2022.100505
Dylan TDurrant AÇerçi SLawson SVines JKitamura YQuigley AIsbister KIgarashi TBjørn PDrucker S(2021)LanternsProceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411764.3445745(1-15)Online publication date: 6-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3411764.3445745

View Options

Get Access

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

HTML Format

View this article in HTML Format.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Table of Contents