Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers: an interface for playful language exploration

In this paper we describe t-words (tangible words) an interface that consists of rectangular blocks in which children can record and then playback audio. The blocks can then be snapped together playing the recorded audio in a sequence, by reordering the blocks in different ways the audio sequence changes according to the order of the blocks. t-words does not need a computer, which makes it flexible for various contexts. The interface was presented during two workshops that took place in Kathmandu - Nepal with two schools. During the workshops children used the interface playfully exploring sounds, words and sentences while engaging in collaborative work.