Explaining what is art and interaction design to 2-5 year olds

It was “Occupations” day at Bean’s childcare where they had asked if parents could come in and share about their jobs. You know, maybe wear their daily uniform and maybe bring down tools or equipment to show the children. I noticed they had prepared a wall full of common occupations, like being a firefighter, a nurse, a truck driver, a teacher….

Someone’s gotta represent the hybrid-techy-hyphenated jobs of the future, so I prepared a little introduction to myself… and brought down a touchboard and many bananas and spoons, and tried to explain that they could make art on computers. The setup (which seems suitable for all ages, including adults actually) I had brought down involved Bare Conductive’s touchboard, a mini speaker, crocodile clips, and a bunch of bananas and spoons. This was my deck:

Some Observations:
  • Upon seeing bananas, children often want to eat the bananas.
  • Some children examine the connection points and want to disconnect and reconnect the bananas
  • The word “touch” is quite ambigious and does not define how you touch a banana. Do you whack the banana? Do you squeeze the banana? Do you tap the banana lightly? Do you rest your entire hand on the banana?