Interactive Product for kids
What's up with
the kids?
Generally, children are less active today. When our kids are grandparents, stories about "walking ten miles to school, uphill both ways" will be rare. Overall, kids lifestyles are becoming more sedentary. Factors include: unsafe neighborhoods; declining physical programs in educational institutions; desk-bound learning environments; inactive jobs; reduced leisure time and inadequate green space. There are a growing number of situations that veer children from their natural need to move about. This is magnified by today's fascination and pacification with media such as television, video games and the Internet.
The big disconnect
Since
Children have a need to move and play
And
Children love playing with immersive digital media
But
Most digital media interactivity is actually quite inactive; the mind gets to think fast, but the body's motion and response is limited to the fingers.
Then
How do we address this disconnect?
The solution: Get Into It!
Make children's physical activity the key to accessing the digital content. One manifestation of this way of thinking is our Into It! Installation Prototype.
Geared for kids aged 6-9, Into It! harnesses children's natural tendency to be active, in motion, and provides an unforgettable "first creature" point of view.
We created a story of three animals: Purrspective* The Cat, Am Fibbin The Frog, and Butterfly The Butterfly. Each animal has his or her own living space: Purrspective lives in a house; Am Fibbin lives in a waterfall pond; and Butterfly lives in a nearby flower garden.
To navigate the interactive system and discover an animal's viewpoint, children inhabit an animal form and adopt its actual physical characteristics to advance the narrative. Sights and sounds are those native to each animal.
Kids make physical movements in the spirit of the animal they inhabit, and can hop, flap or prowl around their own story, then engage in a collaborative, multi-player game. All the animals are networked for this exciting interactive experience.
