A Solution to Engage Children with Nature?
It is no secret that nowadays children often prefer screen time to playing outside, which was heightened even further by the pandemic. I was able to observe this change happening over the last few years, having worked with children between the ages of six months and nine years for almost eight years. I want to explore the gamification of nature to make children more aware of their environment and create something they are excited to use as an additional reason to play outside.
Children, especially only children were heavily affected by the pandemic since they had no other kids to play with. They were not allowed to meet up with other children and it was challenging to keep them entertained at home or outside. Therefore, they oftentimes resolved to screen time. Particularly single parents with an only child had a difficult time juggling all their responsibilities. This impacted those kids immensely since children’s experiences are heavily dependent on adults (Gundersen et al., 2016). Always having to play alone as an only child can get boring quickly which is why I want to find a way to keep kids entertained outside while also learning something in the process. This led me to question the importance of nature in children’s lives, how much they appreciate nature and how aware of their surroundings they are. Is there a playful approach to instill nature awareness in children and make them want to play outside?
The following three goals will be at the core of my research and should be reflected throughout the entire process, as this is an impact-driven project:
Inspire children to play outside.
I want children to enjoy being in nature and create something they are excited to use as an additional reason to play outside.
Playful education.
My goal is to create an enjoyable form of education. The information should not be forced on but be necessary to play the game.
Raise awareness.
I want the children to become more mindful of their immediate surroundings and nature in the long run.
Now to the role design plays in this project. None of the goals can be achieved if the design isn’t easy to use and appealing to children, since they wouldn’t want to interact with the final product otherwise. The most challenging aspect of the design however will be that not all users will be able to read yet. Symbolism, icons, and associations will be at the center of the design process to create a universally accessible experience.It is a complex topic with many different layers that I’m excited to explore and see to which results it will lead me.
References
Crawford, M. R., Holder, M. D. & O’Connor, B. P. (2016). Using Mobile Technology to Engage Children with Nature.Environment and Behavior, 49(9), 959-984. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916516673870
Cumbo, B. J., Paay, J., Kjeldskov, J., & Jacobs, B. C. (2014). Connecting children to nature with technology. Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Interaction Design and Children. https://doi.org/10.1145/2593968.2610449
Gundersen, V., O’Brien, L. & Skar, M. (2016). How to engage children with nature: Why not just let them play? Children’s Geographies, 14(5), 527-540. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2015.1136734
Quay, J., Gray, T., Thomas, G., Allen-Craig, S., Asfeldt, M., Andkjaer, S., Beames, S., Cosgriff, M., Dyment, J., Higgins, P., Ho, S., Leather, M., Mitten, D., Morse, M., Neill, J., North, C., Passy, R., Pedersen-Gurholt, K., Polley, S., . . . Foley, D. (2020). What future/s for outdoor and environmental education in a world that has contended with COVID-19? Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 23(2), 93–117.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42322-020-00059-2
