A device to help children aged 3-5 years old learn to dress independently and appropriately for the weather and given circumstances.
15 weeks
Team
Haiyeng - Project manager, Coder
Tessa Board - Designer
Alyssa Suba - Researcher
Jingyao Nie - Illustrator
How might we support parents in guiding young children to make appropriate clothing choices, considering their developing cognitive and psychosocial skills?
Smart Threads addresses this by transforming dressing into an engaging, educational experience that teaches weather-appropriate attire through interactive, game-based learning.
Engaging Play: Encourages creativity and role-play through magnetic, interchangeable outfit pieces.
Focus on Fashion: Aids in developing outfit coordination skills for various occasions.
Gender Appeal: Primarily targets girls due to its aesthetic design but intended for all children.
Entertainment Over Education: Emphasizes imaginative play rather than educational content related to weather-appropriate dressing.
STEAM Education: Promotes learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics through interactive activities.
Screen Interface: Utilizes screen-based learning, integrating tactile elements for enhanced engagement.
Family Engagement: Designed for both independent play and family involvement, fostering collaborative learning.
Inspirational Design: Influenced Smart Threads' integration of interactive, tactile outfit customization.
Educational Gameplay: Teaches children about weather-appropriate dressing through interactive video game format.
Engaging Graphics: Uses vibrant colors and intuitive controls to capture children's attention.
Simplified Concepts: May oversimplify weather concepts, lacking complexity for real-life application.
Opportunities for Enhancement: Smart Threads incorporates more detailed weather scenarios and gender-neutral clothing options for a richer learning experience.
Interactive Audio: Features interchangeable characters (Tonies) that play different songs or stories when placed on the box.
Flexible Content: Allows children to switch content easily based on their preferences.
Cost Considerations: Higher initial and ongoing costs due to the need for additional Tonies.
Inspirational Features: Smart Threads adopts the physical interaction concept with cost-effective, wooden RFID-scanned outfit pieces and a simple, user-friendly design.
Of parents said their kids are able to dress themselves successfully for the weather only 50% (or less) of the time.
Of parents said it is difficult to ask their child to change to a different outfit
Parents want their kids to dress independently, but kids resist changing inappropriate outfits, even if they are unsuitable for the weather or situation.
Kids like what they choose and value their sense of autonomy.
Tiles with different clothing items textiles hanging on the kid’s drawer
The register would display the weather condition, temperature, and activity on the screen
Kids would then run to the drawer to scan each clothing item on to the register
Kids at that age would have a difficult time learning about different clothing materials
Pressing buttons
Showing cut outs of clothing items
Drawing the clothes presented on a screen
Grabbing clothes from their closet to match what is displayed on the screen
Button pressing was easy to learn
However, parents said that their kids enjoy playing with toys that they can hold in their hands
Developed a rudimentary paper prototype to evaluate children's comprehension of the game concept.
Prototype consisted of a simple box structure with a scanning area on top and a screen interface on the front.
Box components were printed, glued onto cardstock, and folded into a rectangular shape.
Individual clothing pieces were cut out for users to pick up and scan.
Children tested the prototype by selecting suitable clothing items for given weather conditions.
Selections were placed into corresponding columns and displayed on an avatar on the screen.
Testing provided insights into children's understanding of the game mechanics and informed further development.
Kids will scan the clothing items, and the images will display on the screen
Create order
Screen would be placed here
Kids will place the clothing items in the different quadrants
We decided to add a screen as it helps kids better visualize the clothing items they choose. Since kids aged 3-5 are still unable to read, providing visual and audio cues is important.
Due to some technical difficulties during the testing on site, kids were prompted by the testers, and watched the video to better understand the game.
Kids had fun playing the game and liked its design, color, and characters
They struggled with reading instructions
They were unable to read the text on the quadrant
Difficulty level ranged from medium to hard
They needed reminders to clear the clothes off the board after each round
They arranged the clothing items as they would on a person
Added avatars of different race to increase racial diversity, and added animals to make dressing up more fun and engaging for kids
We updated the clothing items to match the brighter, pastel background colors, while ensuring that they are are still gender neutral.
We removed the buttons and added 2 more RFID tags (red and green) that represent “no/replay” and “yes/next”. This would keep the play action (scanning action) consistent throughout the gameplay.
We reduced the number of RFID readers to 1 to reduce the amount of total power needed to run the whole game, and risk causing harm to children.
We created a body outline so that kids would know where to place the clothing item after scanning them.
We moved the clothing tray to the front of the box for easier access.
The LED strip around the RFID reader and body outline serve as a navigation tool for children, by guiding them through the process of scanning and arranging clothing items on the box.
Added handles on the clothing items to allow kids to easily place and remove the clothing items on the body outline.
Each handle is color coded to facilitate sorting by item type
Sorting tray is designed based on the style of a closet
The RFID and LED components were coded in Arduino. Then, we connected the Arduino file to P5.js using the P5 serial control.
The voice-over and instructional videos were done by one team member who has worked with kids between 3-5 years old, and she called this her 'teacher voice.'
Learning how to problem-solve and design for young kids.
Going outside of my comfort zone by coding the whole project (even though I didn’t have much coding experience).
Collaborating with teammates with different backgrounds, strengths, and work styles.
Ensuring that the divot could accommodate clothing items of various shapes and sizes, ranging from shirts and pants to jackets and skirts.
Ensuring seamless communication between the P5.js code and the Arduino code.
Create more localized settings and variations of clothing that would give kids more choices when it comes to style.
Make more complex levels and intricate clothing
User test our final prototype with our target audience