Augmented playground

Virtual reality and Augmented reality (AR) are taking leaps towards becoming our gateway to digital media. However, how will children adapt to this change? AR shows potential in providing children with new educational tools but is still under-explored of the potential it has for play. I am, therefore, designing an augmented playground that allows technology loving children to acquaint themselves with new society-changing technologies through cooperative games and exploration, and all this while playing.

Children are increasingly using technology to learn and play and new paths to motivate them actively are required. Augmented playgrounds are meant to find new ways in which digital technologies, physical, and social play can be combined and motivate children of the age 8-10 to continue to play and socialise in playground environments.

AR technologies enable to position and create digital content by adding an extra layer on a playground, and thus, providing an interactive story for the children to experience. The children can with a smartphone discover a new world on the playground, where for example interpreting alien languages and learning about the solar system with visual animated models can be some of the activities that AR offers in an immersive digital game-like experience in the real world with their friends.