Wobblies: Designing Intentional Playthings with Young Children

Matthews, S; Nicholas, M; Paatsch, L; Kervin, L; Wyeth, P

Wobblies: Designing Intentional Playthings with Young Children

Matthews, S Nicholas, M Paatsch, L Kervin, L Wyeth, P

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Publisher:: ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY
Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction Tei 2025, 2025
Issue Date:: 2025-03-04

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Matthews, S
dc.contributor.author	Nicholas, M
dc.contributor.author	Paatsch, L
dc.contributor.author	Kervin, L
dc.contributor.author	Wyeth, P https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1867-9536
dc.date	2025-03-04
dc.date.accessioned	2025-10-09T07:03:27Z
dc.date.available	2025-10-09T07:03:27Z
dc.date.issued	2025-03-04
dc.identifier.citation	Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction Tei 2025, 2025
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/190353
dc.description.abstract	This paper analyses a novel tangible technology in early childhood environments as a boundary object. Objects in early childhood environments often share space between adults' and children's objectives. By considering these objects as boundary objects, designers are led to explore how children appropriate objects for playful learning activities beyond adult objectives. This paper discusses Wobblies (see Figure 1), a novel technology probe, to interrogate how a socially-motivated design with conditional and positional interactive behaviour was understandable to children, and how they appropriated the probe in playful activities. We deployed the probe in a rural Australian preschool in a free-play environment. Initial observational findings show that the children understood the procedure of the interactions and moved from exploring to constructive play activities.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY
dc.relation	http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/CE200100022
dc.relation.ispartof	Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction Tei 2025
dc.relation.ispartof	19th International Conference on Tangible Embedded and Embodied Interaction
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1145/3689050.3705972
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.title	Wobblies: Designing Intentional Playthings with Young Children
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.location.activity	FRANCE, Bordeaux
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2025-10-09T07:03:25Z
pubs.finish-date	2025-03-07
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.start-date	2025-03-04

Abstract:

This paper analyses a novel tangible technology in early childhood environments as a boundary object. Objects in early childhood environments often share space between adults' and children's objectives. By considering these objects as boundary objects, designers are led to explore how children appropriate objects for playful learning activities beyond adult objectives. This paper discusses Wobblies (see Figure 1), a novel technology probe, to interrogate how a socially-motivated design with conditional and positional interactive behaviour was understandable to children, and how they appropriated the probe in playful activities. We deployed the probe in a rural Australian preschool in a free-play environment. Initial observational findings show that the children understood the procedure of the interactions and moved from exploring to constructive play activities.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/190353