The last few days I’ve been doing some further research for
my child persona “Charlie”. Charlie is a 4 year old female, a bit of a tom-boy
who has issues with sharing. For child
personas as opposed to adult personas, two goal aspects need to be taken into
account: experience goals and needs goals. Experience goals being what the
child is wanting (i.e. fun, adventure), and needs goals being what the child
actually requires for development (in this case, the development of physical
skills).
Regarding experience goals, due to not having contact with
any children it is difficult getting this information first hand. Most of the
resources I have come across have been adults reporting on what children like.
For example forums such as Mothering.com
(http://www.mothering.com/community/t/745312/what-kind-of-toys-do-4-year-olds-like)
and information websites such as Parenting.com (http://www.parents.com/fun/toys/kid-toys/).
These websites give examples of what
children seem to enjoy doing at various ages (though there are generalisation
issues). They also have forums where parents can ask questions and discuss issues
of concern to them. I found these areas quite useful in analysing what is
important to parents (the potential buyers of our final product).
Needs goals for this brief are physical skills. Early
Childhood Australia has a great pdf online about physical development in young
children, covering motor development, movement skills and balance (plus more).
There are numerous documents, but the first is here: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/pdf/everyday_learning/EDL1202_sample.pdf
The Australian Government also have a document at https://education.gov.au/australian-early-development-index
outlining a developmental index across early childhood age groups.
Apart from official government websites, there are plently
of websites out there looking at child development for the information of
parents (i.e. http://newparent.com/). These
websites differ from the government websites in presenting information in a
more user-friendly (less research/fact heavy manner). I spent a bit of time
sifting through for some of the more informative sites. It was quite
interesting to look at this developmental information from the perspective of a
parent, rather than a researcher. A lot of information on developmental levels is
requirements is available at Kidspot.com.au. In particular, the article at http://www.kidspot.com.au/familyhealth/Development-Preschool-4-5-years-physical-development+2556+214+article.htm
was particularly useful in suggesting what children aged 4-5 are capable of
physically, and what should be worked on.
I also found a useful website which has a range of existing
games for children under 5 years old, with various developmental goals, but
predominantly physical motor skills.
From my research this week, the primary information I will
be adding to Charlie’s persona is a habit of overestimating her physical
abilities. Most of the research I found indicates this is very common in
children aged 3-6. In relation to our design, this habit makes me conscious of
both the safety of our product, and also possibly using out product to teach
Charlie to understand physical limitations.
Finally, to end on a happy note and remind us not to
underestimate the abilities of our users, see this Youtube video. This 5 year
old is a brilliant piano player who has played at Carnegie Hall (he is also
just super sweet).
Thanks Hannah! The links are really helpful in terms of my persona's physical capabilities! Oh, and that little pianist is amazing!!!!
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