Making Space for Voice: Technologies to Support Children’s Fantasy and Storytelling

Abstract:

Fantasy play and storytelling serve an important role in young children’s development. While computers are increasingly present in the world of young children, there is a lack of computational tools to support children’s voices in everyday storytelling, particularly in the context of fantasy play. We believe that there is a need for computational systems that engage in story-listening rather than story-telling. This paper introduces StoryMat, a system that supports and listens to children’s voices in their own storytelling play. StoryMat offers a child-driven, story-listening space by recording and recalling children’s narrating voices, and the movements they make with their stuffed animals on a colourful story-evoking quilt. Empirical research with children shows that StoryMat fosters developmentally advanced forms of storytelling of the kind that has been shown to provide a bridge to written literacy, and provides a space where children engage in fantasy storytelling collaboratively with or without a playmate. The paper addresses the importance of supporting young children’s fantasy play and suggests a new way for technology to play an integral part in that activity.