Guidelines to Design Interactive Open-ended Play Installations for Children Placed in a Free Play Environment

Abstract

In this paper we describe a study in which we examine how children play with an interactive open-ended play installation. The idea behind open-ended play solutions is that children can create their own game goals and rules. However, what design parameters help children in being able to do this? Challenges include how to get children started with creating games, and develop rules as they play, and how an interactive open- ended installation can be flexible in including different amounts of children and play objects. We processed the observations of children playing with SmartGoals (an open ended play installation) into a series of guidelines that can be used as inspiration for the design of future open-ended play installations.