Digital Outdoor Play: Benefits and Risks from an Interaction Design Perspective

Outdoor play has been proven to be beneficial for children's development. HCI research on Heads-Up Games suggests that the well-known decline in outdoor play can be addressed by adding technology to such activities. However, outdoor play benefits such as social interaction, creative thinking, and physical activity may be compromised when digital features are added. We present the design & implementation of a novel digitally-enhanced outdoor-play prototype. Our evaluation with 48 children revealed that a non-digital version of the novel outdoor play object afforded social play and game invention. Evaluation of the digitally-enhanced version showed reduced collaborative social interaction and reduced creative thinking when compared with baseline. However, we showed that specific sensing and feedback features better supported outdoor play benefits. For example non-accumulated feedback was shown to increase collaborative play and creative thinking in comparison to accumulated feedback. We provide evidence-based recommendations for designers of outdoor play technologies.