How can play be used as a tool to enhance child development, creativity and engagement?

Doodletots is a child-friendly and fun brand that develops educational and playful tools for children.

Play heavily contributes towards child development through growing physical, cognitive, social and emotional skills. Promoting learning through play improves engagement, increases confidence and allows the learner to think independently and creatively through finding interests and gaining an understanding of the world around them. Children are curious learners and with the evolving world of technology, there are more tools than ever to promote play. However, it is still important to consider the ‘traditional’ methods of play to meet all the needs of the child’s well-being.

Charlotte Wasden’s previous work created a tool used to implement play, inspire new random ideas, educate both the educator and child, enhance all development areas all without the use of screens. As she developed the idea of play, she came to understand that technology is an increasingly important part of our lives and children should be educated on technology, but it shouldn’t be used as the only option to educate and entertain children.

This research enquiry explores the importance of play and how it can be enhanced to coincide with the traditional development areas in the modern world, as well as improving key skills such as gross motor and fine motor skills. The product gives children the time and space to explore and investigate through the freedom of deciding what they want to do and how they want to use the product.

The Doodletots Preschool Creative Kit delivers a space for learners to develop hand-eye coordination, pen grasp and experiment freely with different mark-making tools, with help from the changeable themed backgrounds to inspire and motivate the creative process. Magnetic props such as hats and facial features can be added to the screens to add more playfulness. The product subtly and cleverly introduces technology as the educator will support the learner with scanning the artwork using the Doodletots AR app. The AR app recognises the props, and the artwork is brought to life through animation.

The unprecedented times have been a learning curve for Charlotte Wasden enabling her to develop new skills within research, prototyping and rendering.

The next step in her career is grabbing an amazing internship or job within a design agency, as well as working as a design and marketing consultant for her current employer. She hopes to grow her own business – CPrint Store, producing preset and customised prints.