Carmen Dukes

Thesis Evolution

My initial concept started with blocks. From my observations, I initially hypothesized that blocks needed reinvention. Standard kindergarten blocks all look the same. They are static and very structured limiting a child’s ability to engage in deep meaningful play experiences.

Concept Beginnings

Based on my insights, my thesis concept began as Cubicles. Cubicles are cubed shape blocks with places on all six sides for connecting smaller pieces. I thought the introduction of multicolored blocks along with connecting pieces of simple and odd shapes would help create the healthy play experiences that were missing from the play desert. With so many options, I thought the variety of materials presented here would trigger creativity and imagination. However, this was only one part of my formula for complex play patterns. What was missing here was the variety of experiences.

Cubicles Sketch

Extending the Cubicles Concept

Children need experiences to help create their worlds and to provide inspiration. So working with the cubicles, I decided on a concept for a tangible table that could serve multiple functions. The table would display a scene for children to interact with and would give the child ideas of things to build based on the chosen scene. It would then give the child the opportunity to interact with the table by adding the objects that they build in the physical world on top of the table and add them to the table in digital form. Once digital a child could manipulate it’s attributes on the table.

Tables Sketch

I initially thought that this was the right solution, but still felt like something was missing from this concept. I thought that the digital experience of the table could potentially get in the way of the creativity that I wanted to achieve. I thought in the end the table would be a novelty and could potentially get in the way of the concept. Also, I thought adding a digital element would be too much of a disconnect from the play desert environment. Lastly, there wasn’t enough construction in this concept. If my goal was to reimagine the block, I still needed to stay true to why blocks are an important part of kindergarten and learning.

Creating the right Variety of Experiences

So I began to think about how else could I deliver the variety of experiences besides the tangible interface of the table. From my field research, I observed kindergarteners building LEGO structures on top of a LEGO mat. The LEGO mat was static it couldn’t be manipulated at all, but in the context of play, served as a source of inspiration for what to build and a surface to play on. I also looked online at other play mats, commercial and handmade, as well as old Colorforms toy sets.


from: http://www.supertoys.co.uk

All of these products, definitely served as a catalyst for creative play, so I begin to think about how I could extend that experience further. One of my design principles is to create an experience that is modular. To me, modularity in play is about making components come together to create a larger experience and also the modularity of the toy means that potentially every experience is different. Taking inspiration from fashion plate toys of the 80s that gave girls the ability to create their own outfits and fashion designs, by choosing from a variety of fashion tiles, I thought this could be an interesting way to create a play surface.. I thought likewise, I could give kindergarteners the opportunity to choose from a variety of different tile scenes and give them the freedom to combine them to create their own personal play surface. This solution gave more creativity to the children.

Continue reading…

Concepting - Cubicles in the Digital

One of the classrooms that I observed (which was a healthy play classroom) had a play section called “Sensory Table”. The sensory table was a plastic tub, that teachers could fill with various materials (water, sand, dirt) or objects (legos, cups, utensils). On the day I was there, it was filled with tiny plastic farm animals and insects. I watched as the kids around the table, created stories from the animals. The animals were transformed into armies, commanded space ships and rescued trapped.

As I’m trying to create a Variety of Experience for children in the Play Desert (read more about that here ), I’ve been exploring how I could use the sensory table with Cubicles. I’m envisioning a responsive, dynamic experience that responds to the objects that the children create and becomes a catalyst for complex play and storytelling. It is my hypothesis that tangible, physical play combined with a responsive digital layer will create a play environment ripe with rich meaningful play.

Goals of the Cubicles Sensory Table (Through Lens of Complex Play Patterns):

Transformation: As the child builds on the sensory table, the table gives suggestions for what to build. Providing cues on how the blocks can be transformed into fantasy objects.

Improvisation: As children create objects and add them to the sensory table. Once they are added, children can change their attributes (color, size, etc) as they wish.

Narration: By creating this world on the table, a child has an environment full of
people, places and things that become parts of their stories.

Features of the Cubicles Sensory Table:

• Identify who’s playing at the table
• Remembers the play session (what they made)
• Displays environments and attributes as a dynamic setting for play
• Provide a surface to play on
• Engages through sound, sight, and touch.

Concepting - Cubicles in the Physical

Block Re-invention: Cubicles is a construction kit of colored cubes and snapable components designed to give kindergarteners a catalyst for creative and complex play experiences in the classroom. Cubicles represents a new approach to classroom blocks. Sitting between the rigid structure of most modern toys and the open-ended characteristics of wooden blocks, Cubicles will  empower kindergarteners to invent their own  stories by creating imaginary worlds of places, characters and objects.

Solving the Challenges of Play Deserts: A play desert is a classroom that lacks the materials, tools and methods to augment complex and abstract thought in support of the sophisticated and healthy play experiences kindergarteners desire. Kindergarteners demonstrate a range of play patterns from basic to complex (see range illustrated below), however kindergarteners that are in the Play Desert are not capable of the following complex play patterns - Transformation, Improvisation and Narration. Cubicles will achieve these complex interactions through the following features:

Transformation “Let’s Build…”
Cubicles become more than just blocks. The cubes connect with smaller pieces to create worlds, objects, animals, or people…real or imagined.

Improvisation “Let’s Try…”
Each cube has 3 connectors on each side that can be used to snap together with smaller pieces of varying shapes,sizes and colors. With no pre-determined “right way to play”,  Kindergartners are free to modify their Cubicles as to fit their play habits.

Narration “Let’s Pretend…”
By creating representations of things that they know or have imagined with Cubicles, Kindergartens now have the  basis to start their own stories and play scenarios.