Some of the available toys.

On October 8, we hosted our first playdate workshop with nine members of the Transdisciplinary Design community. It was a blast! It was also really awkward. But at least juice and cookies were provided!

Design of the workshop

After a short reflection on play as a child, our participants broke into groups of two or three. In the groups, one person took on the role of a child and the other the role of caregiver.

Prompt card assembly line.

Each group was given a deck of cards which described common but difficult situations that caregivers may have to discuss with their child. Topics included moving, the impending death of a loved one, sexuality, and body image issues.

The groups then role-played the events prompted by the cards. We asked the groups to consider all aspects of the context, and creative ways to enter into co-play. What are possible backstories behind the prompts? If it’s about bullying, for example, consider what the triggering event was and maybe role play that. What might a child do with their toys if, say, they saw some pornography? Or, if a child is feeling sensitive about their weight, perhaps the caregiver could initiate dialog by asking if the child thinks a given doll is beautiful.

The mad dash for toys.

Outcomes

“I’m going to be a horrible parent!”

There was a general consensus that the role of the caregiver was immensely difficult. How do you broach such tough topics in a way a child might understand? And how do you do so in a way that doesn’t sugar-coat, but also isn’t devastating?

Many participants said that the toys and the context of play was helpful. Some simply noted that the toys “gave me something to do with my hands,” which reduced the awkwardness. Certain situations could be expressed quite clearly through the toys: dolls were useful props in conversations around sex and the body. But for some, the toys became abstract metaphors.

Scattered puzzle pieces served as a potent analogy for mental health.

In one group, the pieces of a puzzle formed a way to talk about a caregiver’s depression. The bedridden parent from the prompt card needed time and concentration to work on the “puzzle of her self.”

Jacks as metaphor for gender.

Another group used various colors of jacks to talk about hetero- and homosexuality. The lifecycle of a non-human element (a rose) served to talk about pregnancy, birth, sex, and death. And the ability to move toys around in space and between different settings proved useful to talk about divorce in a visually engaging way.

Communicating with Spot, a recently deceased dog, via a magical walkie-talkie.

However, almost all participants noted one major difficulty: play felt harder when there was an agenda to it. It was tricky for the caregiver to take over the world-building/gameplay of the child in a way that kept it two-sided and interactive.

The future

The workshop was a huge learning experience for us. It validated some of our ideas, and helped us hone one of the most important questions of this research:

How might we design toys that make it easier for caregivers to engage with children on difficult topics?

In future workshops we hope to zoom in on particular affordances and tools to that end.

Many, many thanks to our intrepid participants. Your enthusiasm and courage was invaluable.

Bubbles for atmosphere.

Join us!

If you’re interested in participating in future workshops, please fill out the contact form on our website, and we’ll be in touch!

—Tim & Hannah