1. Kidding Around:
Hands-on Digital Learning for
Children and Families
Shelley Mannion
Alex Flowers

2. Us
Our audiences
What makes a good learning program?
Case studies
10.30 Coffee and tea
Designing digital learning activities
Digital activity brainstorm
Design an activity

3. Who are our audiences?
How do they like to learn, play and create?

4. Babies, Early years
Primary school
Pre-teens, Teenagers
Families

5. Babies
Designing for parents
and carers

6. Colors, shapes, textures

7. Safe places for
open-ended play
Tot Land, Crocker Art Museum
Sacramento, California, USA

8. Tot Land, Crocker Art Museum

9. Body Paint, 2009
Mehmet Akten

10. Early years
Explorers, discoverers

11. The Whole Experience

12. May not be object-focused

13. Active learning
Acting things out
Shapes
Colors
Finding and collecting Faces
Emotions
Patterns
Animals

14. Pittsburgh Children’s Museum
Flickr: KrisNFred
Stories

15. Industrious,
hard-working
Elementary or Primary school

16. Easily absorbed,
Have trouble with transitions

17. Outcome is crucial

18. Developed motor skills

19. Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento

20. Love dirty jokes, blood and gore

21. Pre-teens

22. Good at stuff, but can be self-conscious

23. Self-directed
Developing personal passions

24. Like grown-up roles, tasks

25. Like working with friends rather than adults

26. Need to do their own thing
Teens Question adults’ authority

27. Need open-ended tasks
Unstructured time to create

28. Use technology for social interaction
Photo leppre on Flickr

29. More serious about future careers
Appreciate learning skills, meeting experts

30. Families
Mixed age groups
makes logistics crucial

31. Get everyone involved

32. Prompt talk and discussion
(about anything!)

33. Older children can lead on digital activities

34. Modelling
‘letting go’
for parents

35. What makes a successful learning
programme?
Which elements require
extra attention when using digital tools?

36. How can we encourage different types of
learning and play through digital
experiences?
(Social / Collaborative / Experimental)