A toolkit for designing playful interactions : the four lenses of play

The development of ambient play environments provides an opportunity to develop tangible play solutions to stimulate social and physical play by embedding responsiveness tailored and adjusted to player behaviour in the environment. This paper gives an overview of different perspectives on play and translates this theoretical knowledge from different disciplines to design relevant knowledge. The design relevant knowledge is presented in the form of a design toolkit, called the lenses of play, including the perspectives of forms of play, open-ended play, stages of play and playful experiences. Application of the design toolkit is illustrated in relation to two interactive play design cases to emphasize the design relevance of the knowledge in the design process. Furthermore, it shows how the lenses can inform different types of design decisions, such as early scoping of the design space by focusing on a form of play and making more detailed design decisions later when considering different stages of play.