Collective use of a fabric-based interactive surface to support early development in toddler classrooms

Early instruction plays a crucial role in allowing toddlers to develop social, cognitive, and sensory-motor skills. Free play is important in any early development program, but designing activities for free play is challenging. In this paper, we investigate the use of an interactive surface, BendableSound, a fabric-based interactive surface that enables young children to play piano sounds when touching the fabric, and its potential value in early education classrooms. We conducted a 9-week exploratory study in which 22 toddlers and 5 teachers used BendableSound during free play activities inside their classroom. Our qualitative results indicate that BendableSound was successfully adopted and integrated in toddler classrooms and could positively impact cognitive, social, and physical development. These results offer implications for the design of deformable surfaces and for their integration in activities to support the early development of toddlers.