Tangible interaction and tabletops: new horizons for children's games

Abstract

This paper presents the design process of a set of games involving tangible interaction using toys handled on an active surface tabletop. The games are oriented to young children, so special care has been taken to involve them in a child-centred design life cycle. The iterative nature of this design paradigm was supported by frequent test sessions, where data relating to usability and fun was captured and analysed in order to guide successive design iterations until a finished product was achieved. Details are given of how data collected from test sessions with children helped to create, evolve and improve the games and toys. The final aim of our work is to bring recent proposals in natural interaction closer to young children, adapting them to children’s development and preferences.