Participatory Design

To begin with, we worked out our theme (Water Wise!) and the floor plan for our exhibit.

Then we began to draw out the interactive portions of the exhibit.

The first part of the exhibit is set in the house.

Here, an image of a tap is projected on the wall. The children need to 'turn' the tap to get the water flowing and then 'turn' it off again.

The water has filled the sink! It's time to do the dishes.

The children will need to move their hand over the sponge as if they're picking it up.

Once they've 'picked up' the sponge, the children will need to move it over to the first dirty dish.

Moving the sponge back and forth, the children have to clean the dishes.

All done in the kitchen! Next we move on to the bathroom.

An image of a toilet will be projected on to the next section of the wall.

The children can 'push' the button to flush the toilet.

The toilet image will change perspective and the water will swirl around the bowl.

The plumbing beneath the toilet will be revealed.

The water will begin to flow from the toilet and into the sewers but the rubbish will block the flow of water!

The children need to swipe their hands over the rubbish to remove it from the sewers.

As they swipe over the rubbish, it will be moved to the Recycling Station on the bottom of the wall.

The water will begin to flow again, but another piece of rubbish is blocking the pipes!

The water will flow again until it reaches the next blockage.

Swiping over the rubbish will send it back to the Recycling Station.

Oh no! Another blockage in the sewers! It looks like a set of false teeth.

Swiping over it will remove it....

But this time it needs to go back to its rightful owner!

The sewers are beginning to approach the river.

By this time, the children will have travelled down the first section of the exhibit and into a narrow hallway. Images of the forest will be projected onto both walls.

A view of the river will be projected onto the floor, the water will swirl around the stepping stones.

As the children step on each of the stepping stones, the water will splash and ripple around the stones.

Following the stepping stones will lead the children to the beach segment of the exhibit.

The projected image of the beach will zoom in to show the creatures living under the sea.

But there's rubbish on the bottom, the turtle is chasing the wrong snack, the octopus is all tangled, and the water is murky! The children can work together to clean it all up.