Interactive Toys Research Articles

Gender literacy through the making process: A feminist pedagogy approach

This article aims at exploring how to support students' awareness on gender stereotypes and the development of gender literacy through the making process of interactive toys. I present a case study with 22 primary students (11–12 years) from a public primary school in Barcelona, Spain who were involved in a maker workshop series. Building on principles of transformative feminist pedagogy, the article shows exemplary design activities for children to create a space for dialogue and reflection upon gender stereotypes. To this end, the activities were used as a means to spark critical reflections among the students and to guide them in the design of prototypes of cross-gendered interactive toys. By analyzing students’ artifacts and verbal expressions during the discussions, the study illustrates how they gradually discover their own assumptions on gender stereotypes and were enabled to propose cross-gendered alternatives for interactive toys focusing on movement-based and collaborative activities. Finally, the article presents a set of educational activities that support students to reflect upon gender stereotypes in the making process and guidelines for teachers to integrate these strategies into their educational practices.

Too much too soon? Risk factors for fear behaviour in foster kittens prior to adoption

Many companion kittens spend their sensitive period for socialization (∼2–9 weeks of age) in foster care, and the quality of these early life experiences can impact behavioural development. This study aimed to improve early kitten care by using an online survey to investigate risk factors for fear behaviour in foster kittens prior to adoption (7–9 weeks of age) based on early management practices, foster parent personality traits, and evaluations of kitten behaviour. The main behavioural outcomes of this study were whether kittens showed caregiver-reported fear behaviour during interactions with unfamiliar people and unfamiliar objects just prior to adoption. Fear behaviour included displays of avoidance, freezing, crouching, ears back, piloerection, and aggression. We analyzed the impacts of kitten (n=235) and foster parent (n=72) characteristics, exposure to social stimuli (i.e., general handling, mimicking handling during a vet visit, exposure to people), and exposure to non-social stimuli (e.g., interactive toys, scratching material, different surfaces, etc.) provided. Using mixed logistic regression models, with foster parent as a random intercept to account for clustering at the foster home level, we found that kittens who were reported fearful at intake into foster care had significantly greater odds of displaying fear behaviours towards unfamiliar people and unfamiliar objects than kittens who were not reported fearful at intake. Additionally, kittens who received exposure to cognitive enrichment-based non-social stimuli had greater odds of displaying fear towards people compared to kittens who did not receive cognitive exposure. Kittens whose foster parent had a high score for emotional stability had greater odds of displaying fear towards people compared to those who had a low score for emotional stability. Further, kittens who received high exposure to social stimuli had reduced odds of displaying fear towards people than kittens who received low social exposure, as predicted. Some of these findings challenge recommendations for high amounts of exposure to social and non-social stimuli during early socialization. High social exposure was ineffective at reducing fear levels towards unfamiliar objects, and high cognitive enrichment-based non-social exposure appears to have exceeded kitten limits for optimal behavioural development. While appropriate socialization is beneficial for development, the current study highlights the need for further research to understand the impact of different socialization practices on kitten behavioural development, and the importance of accurately identifying when kittens are fearful and adapting socialization practices appropriately.

Touchscreens can promote infant object-interlocutor reference switching

We re-examine whether the type of object played with influences parent-infant joint attention. A within-participants comparison of 24 parent-9-month-old dyads, used head-mounted eye-tracking to measure parental naming and infant attention during play with touchscreen apps on a touchscreen tablet or matched interactive toys. Infants engaged in sustained attention more to the toy than the tablet. Parents named objects less in toy play. Infants exhibited more gaze shifts between the object and their parent during tablet play. Contrasting previous studies, these findings suggest that joint tablet play can be more interactive than with toys, and raise questions about the recommendation that infants should not be exposed at all to such technology.

Research on the design of interactive intelligent toy art experience based on multimodal sensory

Abstract Although many kinds of intelligent toys, interactive toys that can mobilize children’s sensory experience in many aspects and cultivate their creative thinking are still scarce. In this paper, interactive experience elements are built based on virtual reality technology, image recognition technology, human-computer interaction theory, and ergonomics theory. A brain interaction network based on multimodal sensory modulation is constructed to allow intelligent toys to perceive their surroundings effectively. And the dynamic causal model (DCM) is proposed to infer the connection strength and direction of neural activities among pre-defined cortical regions of the brain. The results showed that the classification accuracy of noisy audiovisual (AVd) modality in the BA18 region was 87.87% significantly higher than that of the STS region (81.41%). The average classification accuracy of the mono-visual noise-added (Vd) modality in the BA18 ROI was 79.40%, which was also significantly higher than that of the STS ROI at 65.12%. It indicates that the interactive design based on multimodal senses can effectively stimulate children’s brain interest areas, which makes children experience better and communicate more interactions. The research results of this paper provide new perspectives and have important implications for the application of interactive intelligence to toy art.

Social robots as social learning partners: Exploring children's early understanding and learning from social robots.

Clark and Fischer propose that people interpret social robots not as social agents, but as interactive depictions. Drawing on research focusing on how children selectively learn from social others, we argue that children do not view social robots as interactive toys but instead treat them as social learning partners and critical sources of information.

Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD) and Interactive Games: A Literature Review

Children with deficits or delays in visual-motor coordination skills experience difficulties in acquiring academic skills, participating in school activities as well as in social relationships. Valid and early detection of visual-motor difficulties and their treatment through intensive and effective intervention programs have been shown to bring about significant improvements in the functioning of children with DCD. The purpose of this literature review was to examine the effectiveness of intervention programs that involve the use of interactive games to deal with visual-motor coordination difficulties in preschool, school and adolescent children. The method used was the search of the relevant literature in databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Plos One, Taylor & Francis, Science Direct, EKT & IKEE, etc.) with keywords in the title and the text of the abstract (video games intervention and DCD, computer games, virtual games, active games, exergames, rehabilitation and DCD, Wii intervention for DCD, etc.), in order to identify and display articles that would be relevant to the topic under consideration as much as possible. 105 bibliographic references (93 scientific articles, 9 conference proceedings and 3 diploma theses) have emerged from the initial search carried out with the aim of a systematic review of the existing literature. After removing studies involving tablet games for people over the age of 18 and for children who did not have DCD, 36 studies were finally reviewed. The results showed, in their majority, a positive effect of interactive games for the elimination of visual-motor difficulties already at preschool age. There have been studies that have shown a positive effect on the social and emotional development of children. Children seem to have a lot of fun using the interactive toys. Of course, the contribution of interactive games to the normalization of DCD has not yet been investigated in depth and more thorough research is needed in the direction of the type, the time frame, the frequency of the activity as well as the training of the special educators and therapists. Future researches on the implementation of programs with interactive games could focus on: a) the long-term effect on preschool, school children and adolescents with DCD problems, b) the combination with physical activity and sports, and c) the development of children's social and emotional skills.

Observations of a child’s movement response to music and their interaction with a musical toy robot

This article describes the author’s informal observations of the development of movement response to music with the added interaction with a musical toy robot. The subject under observation was one child, from the age of 8 to 24 months. Overall, the child’s readiness to move seemed to be motivated by the presence of the interactive toy robot. Observation revealed a variety of movement responses at a very young age, also in attempts to interact with the toy. The child appeared to form an emotional relationship with the toy robot that can be described by different phases from partnership with the toy, to the reduction of the toy’s role, to a passive music box. The toy robot was also used in a mediator role between siblings of different ages. Thus, interactive musical toy robots may have a beneficial effect on a child’s musical development as they provide a repetitive, safe and critique-free space. The human-like features of the toy robot (i.e. happy face, moving arms and legs) seemed to catch this child’s attention, allowing him to interact with the toy similarly to a human dance partner. The robot’s clumsy moves fit the concept of motionese, supporting the development of the child’s motor skills.

Research on the Design of Interactive Children's Vocal Enlightenment Toys Based on Audiovisual Association Experience.

This paper examines the characteristics and current situation of children's vocal enlightenment toy design, studies how to design children's verbal enlightenment toys based on audiovisual associative experience, and develops appropriate optimization strategies and approaches. This paper analyzes the theoretical basis involved in design practice, summarizes the generation and concept of audiovisual association and the significance of associative experience for children's vocal enlightenment, explores the application and characteristics of interaction design in children's toys, and summarizes the creation of interactive toys. The triggered form of associative experience is determined according to the physical and mental development characteristics, interaction behavior, and experimental research of children at this stage. By summarizing the typical design elements of existing children's interactive toys with good sales and reputation and designing a questionnaire, the Kano model was used to obtain the design element priorities to guide design practice. We used audiovisual association as an entry point to writing a sound and picture interactive program through processing and the Arduino platform to develop the interactive toys. “Sound fun” is an interactive toy that extracts the characteristics of children's voices to correspond to the changes of picture elements and can provide real-time feedback of dynamic pictures through the user's voice to achieve the purpose of triggering a synesthetic experience. Interaction design applied to toy design is a new direction in terms of traditional toy design, which enhances the interactivity of toys and enhances the user's sense of experience and participation in the use of toys; it can improve the affinity and fun of toys.

Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Dog Behaviour: Pilot Study.

Simple SummaryThe quality of life for domestic and captive animals can be enhanced and improved by providing additional stimuli and activities, known as environmental enrichment (EE). However, it is important to ensure the enrichment provides benefit to the animal, and as such the behaviour of the animals can be monitored to understand the activities’ impacts. A pilot study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of seven different EE activities on the behaviour of 10 training dogs housed in an office environment during training within an assistance dog charity. Results suggest there is a need to diversify thinking around EE, shifting common thinking of EE as one entity to instead consider EE in different categories and to ensure animals receive a mixture of EE types.Environmental enrichment (EE) can be used to enhance the environment of various animals. The aim of this pilot study was to determine the effects of seven EE activities (Bonding, Bubble machine, Conspecific play, Interactive toy, Playhouse, Stuffed food toy and Tug play) on dog behaviour, pre- and post-EE for dogs housed in an office environment during training as part of an assistance dog training programme. EE activities resulted in a significant increase in the frequency of relaxation behaviours (p < 0.01) and a significant reduction in alert (p < 0.01) and stress behaviours (p = 0.02). Results suggest various benefits of the different activities with Conspecific Play and Playhouse activities having the greatest overall positive behaviour change when compared to the other activities. The food-based EE activities (Interactive toy and Stuffed food toy) had the least behaviour change of all the activities provided. Findings will be of interest to pet owners, animal rescue centres, dog trainers and working dog organisations.

Understanding Families' Non-/Use Practices and Choices: The Case of Smart Speakers and Smart Interactive Toys

Over the past few years, in-home smart technologies have dramatically increased and changed. This paper aims to investigate how families of different socioeconomic status use or forgo the use of smart devices, specifically smart speakers and smart interactive toys. To this end, we interviewed 14 parents with low socioeconomic status and 16 parents with high socioeconomic status from varied races and different levels of education, lifestyles, and occupations. Our findings reveal how socioeconomic differences reflect and impact use of these devices in terms of parenting aids, parents' regulation of children's use, and the non-use practices of families. In the end, we discuss the implications of our findings and provide design recommendations for smart speakers and smart toys that address the diverse values and preferences of families from different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Still looking for new ways to play and learn… Expert perspectives and expectations for interactive toys

The use of interactive, smart and connected toys is expected to increase rapidly with many claiming not only new ways to play, but also to have educational benefits. However, there is a lack of evidence to support such claims and the purpose of the current analysis was to gather expert opinion about interactive toys for play and learning. In-depth interviews with 15 experts from technology corporates, stakeholder organizations and academia using a semi-structured interview protocol were conducted. The audio transcripts were coded using a Template Analysis approach with the key themes being educational utility, learning, play, and children with disabilities. The text visualization revealed that experts perceived high educational effectiveness of interactive toys. Apart from the educational value, experts also spoke about the benefits of interactive toys in entertaining the children of busy parents, privacy, security and integrative features of smart toys. This study demonstrates that for experts’ interactive toys have higher perceived educational value than traditional toys or other forms of play although this is an intuition or an insight rather than based on direct evidence to support this view. From the analysis and interpretation, we identified three main recommendations (1) the need for interactive toys to provide a safe, secure and private way to play and learn; (2) increased research, experimentation and investigation to explore interactive toy claims and potential; and (3) increased interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration and innovation.

John Edmark: Art in Motion

John Edmark teaches in the Design Program at Stanford University. He is the inventor of the Helicone, an interactive kinetic toy, and Blooms, a new type of sculpture that animates when spun under a...

Soft Body Belt-Type Touch Sensor With Impact Resistance: A Study of Dynamic Behavior

We report the development of a novel soft body touch sensor capable of measuring contact force along its length. The sensor can be embedded in soft objects and on curved surfaces for smart furniture, interactive electronics, and general robotics applications. The sensor uses pneumatic transduction principle and achieves both high sensitivity and impact loading tolerance. The development is motivated by the needs of consumer electronics industries for smart furniture and interactive toys. The current work fills a gap of existing soft-bodied touch sensors. The main sensor body is completely polymeric and contains no conductive or semiconducting material elements. It exhibits high pass frequency response to reject common mode contact forces or shape variations. The central question addressed by this paper is dynamic behavior of this sensor under normal and impact touch force. In this study we developed a theoretical model for the sensor output and validated with experimental measurements. We modeled sensor behavior under two operational regimes of different unloading speed. Depending on the rate of change, the sensor could be in force limited relaxation mode or elastic relaxation (free relaxation) mode. Measurements have been performed to capture time constants of occupant behavior in a smart cushion application.

A game-based solution with interactive toys for supporting upper limb rehabilitation for preschool-aged children with Cerebral Palsy: a preliminary result

ABSTRACT Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) suffer from movement and posture disorders leading to reduced range of motion and weak muscle which heavily affects their daily life activities. Children with CP who join rehabilitation programs as early as 2 years old have increasing chances of improving motion functions, muscle strength and reducing complications. However, the current exercises are not attractive enough to preschool-aged children leading to reduced therapy’s efficiency. In this study, a design of two interactive toys and an open, rule-free 2-D game theme was proposed to support upper limb rehabilitation for 2-to-5-year-old children. The two toys, a stuffed stick with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a glove with force sensors and a ball, were supposed to both involve and track children’s shoulder flexion and horizontal abduction movements, and grip strength through children’s tendency of swinging a stick or squeezing a ball. These movements will interact with the game to entertain children, encouraging them to repeat movements desired for rehabilitation. The prototype was tested on four 2-to-3-year-old Children with CP at Quang Ninh Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital in 5 days. The results show that Children with CP reacted positively to the stick and the shoulder abduction performance improved from 70° of swinging degrees to 100° or more on day 5. The glove, although it was not as attractive to children, also showed improvements of 80-90 grams or 1 Newton in the grip strength. This shows that the proposed solution was feasible and capable of keeping small children entertaining to repeat movements for function rehabilitation in a long period. According to our knowledge, this is also the first study designed specifically for preschool-aged children.

Comparison of actual and calculated digestible energy values of horse diets

This chapter begins by giving a brief account of the history of concern for the welfare of elephants under human care. It discusses the various ways that elephant welfare may be measured, including condition scoring and behavioural indicators, especially stereotypic behaviour. Environmental enrichment is considered, such as the use of food, music, interactive toys, and the importance of social contact. The importance of sleep and rest is discussed along with the challenges of training elephants. Locomotion and gait studies are described together with obesity and its health consequences. Common diseases of captive elephants are briefly discussed, focussing on foot health, tuberculosis and endotheliotropic herpesviruses.

Basma: An Interactive IoT-Based Plush Toy for Arabic-Speaking Children

A toy is an item mainly intended for children to play with. However, due to its important role in child development, it has evolved to encompass sophisticated educational and learning characteristics. Toy industry has evolved to provide these needs as digital interactive smart toys. Interactive toys combine traditional toys with additional computing capabilities using software and hardware components. This paper presents the design and development of an interactive toy system named “Basma” which interacts with a child in Arabic language. The system consists of two parts: The first one is a plush toy with a hardware component that is implemented using a low cost Internet of Things (IoT) kit. This part leverages the interaction between the child and the toy, allowing the toy to respond and talk. The second part is an iPad application connected to the toy via Bluetooth. It allows parents to customize the toy and provides the child with stories that embed moral and cultural values. The interactive toy system was evaluated using test scenarios and user acceptance.

An (An)Archive of Communication: Interactive Toys as Interlocutors

An (An)Archive of Communication: Interactive Toys as Interlocutors

Personal digital bodyguards for e-security, e-learning and e-health: A prospective survey

The widespread availability of hand-held devices like tablets, phablets and smart phones, along with their new handwriting digitizing and their increased computing powers, enable these to process the graphomotor dimension and the lognormal trends of human handwriting. By exploiting such capacity, it becomes possible to extend these mobile devices into Personal Digital Bodyguards (PDBs). PDBs will be able to supplement people's sensitive data protection with signature verification, equipment use security with writer authentication and handwritten CAPTCHAs processing (e-security), and to enhance human-machine interaction performances through words spotting and handwriting recognition (e-recognition). For young children, these tools will turn into interactive toys helping them to learn and master their fine motor control and become better writers. For advanced students they will enable sophisticated systems for (e-learning) and (e-testing). Moreover, PDBs will also be able to provide the user with fine motor control monitoring, which can detect stress, aging and health problems (e-health).This paper presents a prospective survey of various projects dealing with these five e-fields of investigation, focussing on state of the art results and providing directions in research and development, under the theoretical umbrella of the Kinematic Theory of human movements and its Lognormality Principle. From a practical point of view, the concept of lognormality provides a fundamental common thread, an integrative psychophysical standpoint to track the graphomotor problems of signature verification, writer identification, handwriting generation, recognition and learning.

Simple and Soapy

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderGlimpses1 Oct 2017Simple and Soapy Nanette CoteMA, CCC-SLP Nanette Cote Google Scholar More articles by this author , MA, CCC-SLP https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.GL.22102017.8 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In Sometimes, simple is just right! My goal was to make a session so much fun that it would prompt imitative and spontaneous vocalizations from my young client. I filled a large, clear bin with warm, soapy water and a few interactive toys to set the stage. The bubbles were perfect for “hiding” objects, playing peek-a-boo and vocalizing “pop.” Since the bin was clear, we could see objects “under” water. We also talked about target words: more, in, out, up and water. This session proved to be one of the most vocal ones ever with this client. I believe that fun, emotionally charged play helps foster stronger language connections and, in turn, supports expressive language. About me: I am originally from Rhode Island, but have lived in Illinois for 10 years. After working in early intervention, school and hospital settings for 18 years, I launched my private speech and language practice, Naperville Therapediatrics, in my home office four years ago. When time permits, I blog and occasionally post as a “Frenzied SLP.” I have been married for 12 years to Chris, and I’m the proud swim mom of our 11-year-old son, Drake. Author Notes —Nanette Cote, MA, CCC-SLPinstagram.com/speech2me Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 22Issue 10October 2017 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Oct 1, 2017 Metrics Current downloads: 283 Topicsasha-topicsleader_do_tagasha-article-typesleader-topicsCopyright & Permissions© 2017 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...

Distraction Kits for Pain Management of Children Undergoing Painful Procedures in the Emergency Department: A Pilot Study

To assess the feasibility, usefulness, and acceptability of using distraction kits, tailored to age, for procedural pain management of young children visiting the emergency department and requiring a needle-related procedure. A pre-experimental design was piloted. A kit, tailored to age (infants-toddlers: 3 months–2 years; preschoolers: 3-5 years), was provided to parents before their child's needle-related procedure. Data was collected to assess feasibility, usefulness, and acceptability of the kits by parents and nurses. Pain was measured pre-, peri-, and postprocedure using the Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale. A total of 25 infants and toddlers (mean age: 1.4 ± .7 years) and 25 preschoolers (mean age: 4.0 ± .9) participated in the study. Parents and nurses considered the kits useful and acceptable for distraction in the emergency department, especially in the postprocedural period. Addition of more animated and interactive toys to the kits was suggested. In the infants-toddlers group, mean pain scores were 1.6 ± 2.5 preprocedure, 7.1 ± 3.0 periprocedure, and 2.5 ± 2.5 postprocedure. In the preschoolers group, mean pain scores were 1.6 ± 3.0 preprocedure, 4.8 ± 3.4 periprocedure, and 2.0 ± 3.2 postprocedure. Distraction kits were deemed useful and acceptable by parents and emergency nurses. They are an interesting nonpharmacologic option for nurses to distract children, giving them a sense of control over their pain and improving their hospital experience. Future research should address the feasibility of distraction kits for a broader population of patients and a variety of painful procedures.