E "Eddy" Edwards
Note: this is from the "Stuff That Was Put Together to Impress a Client and It Did, But They Shafted Me Anyway (the Ungrateful Bums)." file. It's our way of spreading the Open Source spirit to themed entertainment design and development.
-- E"E"E
Hands-on manipulatives, computer or machine-based devices, live participatory shows: Interactive and participatory Events can come in a variety of media, but no matter the means to present an interactive or participatory Event to children, there are a few basic guidelines to consider early in the development stage to help ensure the creation of a rewarding, enriching experience. For the purposes of this list, the word "Event" will stand in for "interactive software," hands-on manipulative," "mediated activity," "live show," and a wealth of other terms that could be used in a wealth of other situations.
Play
An Event should mirror the joys, discoveries, physical, sensory, and emotional expressions of play and should be emotionally engaging to a child on their most basic emotional and schematic level. Children process new situations and information through play. When they are properly designed, Events allow them become a first person part of the story being presented, bringing them into the "make believe" of the situation, and in doing so create for themselves a bound with the content being presented.
First Person / Interactive
Any Event presented as being interactive or participatory should really be so. Some stories and lessons lend themselves naturally to being presented as interactive Events, while others work best being presented in a conventional, linear, didactic fashion. Trying to shoehorn the latter into an artificially interactive setting wastes time for everyone involved, adds unnecessary chaos and clutter to the larger venue, and distracts from the really real interactive Events.
Repeatability
An Event should allow a child to be engaged in its activity a number of times, stressing that their participation is important ("Without you, nothing will happen"). "Changeability" should be an element of consideration when developing the Event so that when a child repeats the Event at some other time they will discover some difference in the outcome.
Kid Friendly
When developing Events for children, careful consideration should be made to understanding and incorporating the wide range of children's physical and emotional abilities and not simply their assumed schematic or intellectual capacity ("Fourth graders know this. Second graders know that"). A child must also be able to understand the point of an Event as they are approaching and should be able to grasp the basics of a participatory experience within a few seconds of becoming a part of it.
Parent Friendly
Both the "how" of the Event ("what do you do here?") and the "why" (the reason that this story is being presented as an Event) must be immediately clear to any grownup before they, or the child with them, begins to use or take part in an Event. By developing systems — icons, limited text, pictographic representations of the "how" and the "why," etc. — to help the grownup to become instant experts helps reduce the chance of frustration for the child, allows the child to succeed immediately with their first-person activity, and lets the grownup and child discuss the Event and the intended story afterward.
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