Interactive Soft Toys for Infants and Toddlers - Design Recommendations for Age-appropriate Play

Abstract

Very young children (below three) are characterized by sensory-motor exploration and pre-cognitive development. There is little work on interactive toys for this age group. This raises the question of what interactions are developmentally appropriate at this age. We here propose recommendations for designing meaningful interactive toys, gained from designing an interactive soft (textile) book prototype, testing it with children and discussion of observations with parents, as well as three expert interviews. Recommendations concern what types of interactions to implement (transparent and one-step), inviting full-body activity and exploration with all senses, what kind of effects to generate (appropriate for children's abilities, being predictable, with clear relation to real-world experiences, but also accounting for the needs of caregivers), and the importance of allowing for shared experience.