Poptoys: Playing and Tradition to Promote Intergenerational Experiences Through a Digital App

Intergenerational contact bridges the generation gap. It is a collaborative process where all generations generate ideas, share knowledge, and interactively improve skills, attitudes, and values, fostering equality, tolerance, and mutual respect. On the other hand, popular Portuguese toys have a historical and anthropological significance, preserving the local knowledge, traditions, and customs of the population, particularly those related to agricultural culture and nature. We created POPToys to promote intergenerational contact with popular Portuguese toys through virtual environments in this context. This application was developed using the human-centred design methodology: we conducted user research and created personas, context scenarios, functional, information, context, user, and experience requirements. Wireflows were developed to define the interaction, navigation, and information architecture. Finally, a high-fidelity prototype was designed, and the prototype’s usability was evaluated through a moderated test. The tests were carried out with two groups of participants: five children aged between 6 and 10 and five older adults over 65 with an average level of digital literacy. We can identify some navigation errors, information architecture and visual design inconsistencies, and some aspects to improve the user experience; it also revealed that both children and older adults found the experience fun and exciting. We realise that this digital play intervention brought the children closer to the over-65s as technology-enabled intergenerational relationships.