Paco: Encouraging children’s outdoor play
Design Research // Human Centered Design Sprint // 2.5 weeks, January 2025
Overview:
Paco tackles the question: How might we encourage children to play outside more to improve child development & community for parents? Paco, short for Park Company, encapsulates a product and community ecosystem rooted in human insight to address this statement. Playground redesign, community hub, a playful safety device, and a connected community app come together to encourage outdoor play and support families.
Deliverables:
Product ecosystem achievable in 5-7 years
Research & innovation presentation
Responsibilities
Design Research
Visualization
Innovation
Team:
Ben Franson
Anna Koebel
Richy Ramirez-Cobian
Morgan Nguyen
How might we encourage children to play outside more?
Outdoor play is essential for children’s development, but in an increasingly urban and digital world there are less opportunities for safe, engaged, outdoor play within our communities.
Children are outside less
1 in 4 children currently play outside regularly on their street according to Save the Children.
This is a drastic reduction in outside play compared to the baby boomer generation, when 3 in 4 children played outside.
What we learn outside
Embodiment: intelligence and cognition that arises from interactions with physical and social environment.
“The fact that children can learn as much outside as inside is generally ignored.” Barbara Pampe
Research Findings
Interviews with four young families completed the research, leading to these guiding core principles.
Outcome: Product ecosystem & research and innovation presentation.
Four solutions formed the final ecosystem pitch: A playground redesign, community hub, playful safety device, and a connected community app.
Together, this ecosystem represents the insights discovered during the HCD sprint.
Playgrounds: Fenced Fun
“As a mama with a kid who likes to run away, fenced in playgrounds with one gated entry make me feel safer.”
Parents worry for children’s safety in busy urban areas and children report being told to stop playing outside due to noise. This community built fence brings together a neighborhood; fostering community growth and trust, ensuring a sense of safety for parents and noise dampening for the community, without sacrifice to fun and color.
Playgrounds: Ginkgo Shade
“When there are more diverse playing possibilities, bullying and gender differences can be reduced.”
Increasing play diversity can improve children's’ social dynamics, health, and mental wellness, as well as increasing the amount of time children are engaged on a playground. The Ginkgo Shade offers dynamic play options and lengthens access to playgrounds by providing protection from temperature and precipitation.
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