Digital toys as tangible, embodied, embedded interactions

Our research aims to explore the potential that tangible, embedded, embodied interactions (TEIs) has in enabling children’s (age 3-5 years old) active play. This paper describes our study of 66 commercially available digitally augmented toys that have the potential to get children moving, and how these digital toys may be conceptualised as TEIs. During our analysis, the type and persistence of digital feedback from the toys was an important factor in our conceptualisation of these toys as tangible and embodied. We also encounter issues when conceptualising children’s toys, particularly toys for pretend play, as embedded interaction. These findings offer the opportunity to refine our definition of embeddedness to capture children’s play and highlights the importance of designing toys with strong feedback for physical activity.