Katriina Heljakka

More than Collectors Exploring Theorists’, Hobbyists’ and Everyday Players’ Rhetoric in Adult Play With Character Toys

The article aims to present, analyze, and discuss the attitudes of the three groups of adults—theorists, hobbyists and “everyday players”—toward play(ful) behavior and activities in relation to character toys. The rhetoric of play theorists is mirrored against the rhetoric of organized players (hobbyists) and (nonorganized) everyday players through in-depth interviews and participatory observation. Questions guiding the exploratory path this article takes include the following: First, what has led to the dominant ideas of the toy as a collectable item and of adult toy consumers as toy collectors? Second, why is the manipulation of toys that happens at adult age considered hobbying and not playing? The results of the analysis indicate that the uses of toys at adult age represent more complex and multifaceted actions and relationships to play than the terms “collecting” and “hobbying” imply.

Digital Natives and Cardboard Cubes: Co-Creating a Physical Play(ful) Ideation Tool with Preschool Children

This presentation highlights a study on the interactive design and implications of a playful co-creation tool, Comicubes, which combines a two-dimensional blank cardboard canvas with a three-dimensional, open-ended toy medium: the cube. In our study, we tested the concepts functionality as an ideation tool suitable for different target and age groups, as well as its potential as a creative physical platform that encourages design thinking, allows for playful manipulation, and invites interaction. In workshops designed for preschool-aged children, participants were asked to create a plaything of their choice by applying various art supplies to blank cardboard cubes. The workshop findings indicate that the children in our test group, as digital natives, were able to use the Comicubes platform to co-design and create a physical plaything and develop associated play patterns and open-ended (toy) or rule-based (game) ideas for its use.

The Internet of Toys, Connectedness and Character-Based Play in Early Education

The concept of the Internet of Things defines the idea of the Internet – a global, interconnected network of computers connected to everyday objects, products, and other objects in the surrounding environments. Again, at the heart of the concept of the Internet of Toys lies the idea of playthings that are capable of information processing and communicating with children, with other connected toys and their environment, and even autonomous decision taking. This study aims to understand smart and connected toys potentialities in the context of toy-based learning. We have conducted a study with 20 preschool-aged children from ages 5 to 6 years by using a group interview and playtests with three Internet of Toys’ playthings. Our main conclusions are that although these toys as ‘edutainment’ cater for opportunities for toy-based learning, one of the key factors for preschoolers is the creative play patterns that they come up with these character toys. This imaginative form of play may even overshadow the toys educational potential unless they are used in the context of guided play.

Stigma avoidance through visual contextualization: Adult toy play on photo-sharing social media

While the benefits of play have been widely recognized, carrying out activities with toys at adult age is still often seen as stigmatizing behaviour. Some adults solve this issue by referring to their toy activities as either hobbies or collecting. Yet, the primary purpose of toys is play. People may therefore utilize their toys for new kinds of play. One popular decision is the utilization of toys in photographs and videos aiming at personalization and storytelling on social media. Using eight interviews, we point out that this visual contextualization of play ties into not only the adults’ sublimation of their desires to use their toys but also to threads of cultural history in which sublimated or substituted artistic uses have been found for objects. Finally, we show that this activity too is a form of play, made possible by the existence of photo-sharing sites like Flickr and Instagram.

Workshop on the internet of toys: character toys with digital dimensions and connections

The Internet of Toys - Character Toys with Digital Dimensions and Connections workshop1 aims is to use the Comicubes service design method and prototyping tool to envision internet connected toys with workshop participants. This workshop caters for the early stage of the service design process to create product and service ideas for the Internet of Toys by using the concept of character toys prototyped with cardboard cubes.