Playful Trails: Designing Inclusive Activity Toys
摘要
Creating inclusive and welcoming environments fosters convenience and usability for everyone. Inclusive Design (UD) aims to make spaces accessible and functional for individuals of all abilities. In a classroom project, tactile and sensory elements were integrated into textile materials to create tools, toys and props facilitating social interaction between visually impaired children and their sighted peers. Secondary research highlighted various forms of blindness, with partially sighted children transitioning from specialized to mainstream schools. Recognizing the importance of play in fostering confidence, it was acknowledged that play mediums could play a crucial role in promoting interaction and socialization among partially sighted children from an early age. Field visits were conducted at the National Association of the Blind in Delhi to explore study materials and activities for inclusive schooling preparation. Secondary research in addition helped in understanding children’s developmental stages from infancy to six years old, highlighting the importance of social skills and peer-play from ages three to six. Informed by these findings, the project scope was refined, resulting in the design of a playmat and tangram puzzles designed and constructed for preschoolers and toddlers. Multiple textile manipulation techniques and materials along with the variety of bright colors were introduced while designing the products. The idea was to leverage upon the tactile feel of the material as well as trying to introduce sound in the products. Props for kids to interact and engage were also included. As the primary users were toddlers, receiving precise feedback was not feasible, so the approach involved observing if their interactions aligned with the intended design statement. For the purpose of observation, set of 05 children residing at the residence of NID Haryana were invited to the academic block where the designed products were displayed. Both participant and non-participant observations were conducted as the children interacted with the tangram and the mat. The ages of the children ranged 2 to 05 years of age. Children explored various textures, fostering sensorial development through bodily kinesthetic intelligence. Their engagement included utilizing the curved pathway, enhancing balance and mobility development through spatial and bodily kinesthetic intelligence. They also displayed analytical development by distinguishing between shapes, sizes, sounds and textures. Despite minimal instructions, their interactions closely mirrored the intended purpose of the mat, with particular interest in squeaking noises and flower plucking, demonstrating their ability to fully utilize it.