Play For All - SMI
Play for All is a design collaboration between LDA and Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology (SMI). The students were challenged to use the LDA methodology and were given the following brief.
Designing for play and for playful experience is a broader concepts that relates to the development in various aspects of skills of the user using the artifacts. It stimulates brain development and promotes the process of learning. The perks of play for children are benefits that will last throughout adulthood. Thus, Play becomes a part in transformative and empowering experiences that shape the lives of children, and acquire the skills.
Play becomes a complicated and complex context for learning, but one that is critical. It serves the significant purpose but the player is playing for fun, and acquired skills are the side effects of play.
People with disabilities face a lot of difficulty in accessing play based learning considering the kind of accessibility and assistance they require, which in turn leading to limitations or restrictions. Disabled people are subjected to social isolation from an early age as a result of discrimination and barriers existing in society. In many circumstances, education systems fail to integrate children with disabilities in the mainstream school environment.
PwDs' resources are typically focused on survival and sustenance from childhood onwards, often leading to a vicious cycle of exclusion in school due to their lack of play experiences that other children have, eventually leading to an adult life that is similarly focused on livelihood and employability skills, rather than leisure or play.
Play for All is an umbrella project that explores various disabilities and promote designing toys and games that can be enjoyed by all.
Following the LDA approach and spending time with various PwDs, the SMI students gained multiple insights and designed various games for different disabilities as their thesis project. The goal of the design is to enable various skill acquisition and long-term learning as a side-effect of extended play by the users.
Following are the projects done by the SMI students:
SHOUT OUT - A social role-playing game for visually impaired.
MAZING - A block-building game designed for all with a special focus on people with developmental disabilities.
ROOH - A multi-sensorial game play
FIND’M - A game that develops fine and gross motor skills.
GROWING STRONGER - Playful intervention for kids with motor impairments.
ENTIDY - A card game to foster conversations between neuro-typical and neuro-diverse individuals.
FULL HOUSIE - A tactile housie for the visually impaired.
BOY MEETS PUBERTY - Play to better the transition into puberty for boys with mid-high functioning autism.
AUMIGO - A guide and a playful framework for collaborative play for autistic children and their primary caregivers.
NARRATIVE GAME - An immersive game experience for children with ADHD, Autism and conduct disorder.
ABLE BLOCKS - Play based learning for the children on the Autism Spectrum to develop VMI skills.