This is a photo of my childhood, I was chasing a grasshopper.
This is the childhood of children now, they don’t know what a grasshopper is. Children today spend less time outdoors than any other generation, only four to seven minutes per day while spending more than seven hours in front of electronic media. Most of the studies agree that playing in nature is very important for children’s physical and mental development.
So my problem space is:
How might we help children connect with nature?
In response to this question, and based on my own experience of playing with insects. I put forward a hypothesis:
I believe that with the help of a toolkit to guide and encourage children to find insects, children will spend longer time playing and exploring in nature.
My prototype is this app called Find insect, an app that guides children to explore nature with a game about insects.
I want to use “looking for insects” as an opportunity to attract children to explore nature, and use electronic devices familiar to children to help them do so in a fun way.
What is it: It is a treasure hunt game. Children find the habitat of insects according to the clues provided on the app, get the budget, and unlock achievements.
It uses mobile phones that children are familiar with, as well as puzzle-solving and collected elements to help them explore nature.
1. Show nearby habitat.
The habitat of the insects around you will be displayed on the map, and the specific insects will be kept secret.
2. Children can follow the navigation to reach the play area. But it will not tell you the specific location of this insect habitat.
3. Find habitat according to clues, for example, they feed on nectar, or: they live in a dark place. As children get closer to the habitat, they will receive new clues and use them to find the habitat in this area.
4. After they find the insect's habitat, they need to scan an insect to unlock the insect icon and collect the budget, it’s a budget system, it will record the date they found.