A Tangible Interaction Tool for Children and its Application in Storytelling

Traditional interactive tool such as mouse and keyboard are difficult for younger children to master and do not accord with children's cognitive habits. Tangible interaction provides an effective way for childrencomputer interaction. In this paper, we designed a portable tangible tool which could collect children's operational data by various internal sensors and transmit the data to other equipment via wireless module. Based on this interactive tool, we implemented a tangible storytelling system-Tan Story for children and designed multiple interactive gestures which are appropriate for telling stories. While using Tan Story, children could switch control a virtual character in the story scene to create a story. A user study was conducted in a kindergarten, and it turned out that the system and the interactive gestures are playful, easy to learn and to use for the children aged 4~7 years old.