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In an era of screen-based technology, can cardboard toys encourage children to engage in hands-on, tactile play and unprogrammed imagination?

Kubisova, Zuzana
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1543481695802673

Abstract Details

2018, MFA, Kent State University, College of Communication and Information / School of Visual Communication Design.
This thesis explores the relationship between children and our modern consumer culture. Despite well-intended efforts in culture to encourage play and toys that aid the growth and maturation of children, our culture’s overpowering business vector treats childhood as one more consumer group – and one easily influenced. The present research has proved the growing reliance on screen-based devices for children’s play as well as the alarming addiction children seem to develop to a screen-based imaginative life. The primary goal of this thesis is to develop a simple, tactile, inexpensive toy that would engage children (3-6 years) in a more open-ended way than the programmatic “imaginations” of software productions. Something the child could program. Break apart, remake, invent. Therefore the aim is not to provide imagination to a child but instead to provide an opportunity for the child to imagine. The first chapter focuses on the research and discusses child development, the evolution of childhood culture, and the consumer-age childhood. Specifically, then, the project centers in on understanding the process of development and the role play has in that process as well as the impact of consumer culture on modern childhood. In the second phase, various materials and their qualities as related to children toys are analyzed. Also, a survey was used to gather field data. Both quantitative and qualitative outcomes of the research questionnaire are presented and evaluated. The survey results are used to obtain a deeper understanding of children's needs and explore possibilities for the product (cardboard toy). Additionally, in this phase, some observations are made from a study conducted during children’s art classes, in which the children's interactions with each other and their interaction with various media supplies were closely monitored. And lastly, Donald Norman’s theory of emotional design is examined along with further deep investigation about how it applies to children's toys. Another study is conducted, with the basis of Norman’s emotional principles, aimed at researching three popular, existing children's construction toys made of cardboard. In the third section, general criteria for the design of a constructive cardboard toy are explained. Furthermore, the development and process of the fabrication are detailed. Finally, at the fourth phase, the product is developed and tested in regard to the user’s emotional and sensorial experience with it. With proper research practices approved by the institutional review board (IRB), the toy is tested by random children, between 4 and 7 years. This assessment is also accompanied by interviews with parents as well as children and photo recordings that facilitates a better understanding of the observed reactions and interactions. The last section is the conclusion part of the thesis. I review the process I have gone through and appraise the success of my design. In addition, I try to honestly consider the viability of my design in the modern marketplace.
Jessica Barness (Advisor)
Aoife Mooney (Committee Member)
David Middleton (Committee Member)
Nate Mucha (Committee Member)
Communication; Design; Early Childhood Education; Technology
screen-based technology, addiction, cardboard toys, children, hands-on, imagination, play,

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kubisova, Z. (2018). In an era of screen-based technology, can cardboard toys encourage children to engage in hands-on, tactile play and unprogrammed imagination? [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1543481695802673

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kubisova, Zuzana. In an era of screen-based technology, can cardboard toys encourage children to engage in hands-on, tactile play and unprogrammed imagination? . 2018. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1543481695802673.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kubisova, Zuzana. "In an era of screen-based technology, can cardboard toys encourage children to engage in hands-on, tactile play and unprogrammed imagination? ." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1543481695802673

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1543481695802673
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© 2018, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License In an era of screen-based technology, can cardboard toys encourage children to engage in hands-on, tactile play and unprogrammed imagination? by Zuzana Kubisova is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.