MULTI-GENERATIONAL LEARNING IN THE CONTEXT OF TOY DESIGN

Abstract

Education is a vital process for everyone, it helps people to think, feel, and behave, which contributes to their success. Education is important not just for children but also for the elderly. The increasing proportion of elderlies globally raises the importance of lifelong learning, specifically elder education. Furthermore, the significance of the grandparent-grandchildren relationship increased due to two factors: The number of grand families - the nuclear family living with the grandparents - increased globally by 7.3% (Beltran, 2019), and the average lifespan of people increased. Therefore, multi-generational learning, the learning derived from old and young generation interaction, takes an important role in families and society as a whole. Past studies show that multi-generational education benefits both age groups in various ways. For children, grandparents offer life wisdom, acceptance, love, and positive effects on a child's well-being, whereas for the elderly, having strong connections with the younger generation allows them to be exposed to new ideas and information, especially technology-related knowledge. Based on the research conducted, results show that over 70% of parents and grandparents find a lack in grandparent-grandchildren interaction, reducing the chances of multi-generational learning, whereas the majority of them find indoor toys a good tool to boost grandparents-grandchildren interaction. According to the criteria stated, a toy was specially designed for elders and children to enhance the training skills, boost the entertainment aspect of existing toys, and at the same time increase multi-generational learning and interaction. Based on the feedback from users, possible improvements were identified and modified for future development.