As I continued developing the card prototype, I asked myself a simple question:
How do children naturally talk about playgrounds?
The answer is—they often don’t.
Children usually describe experiences rather than designs. They might say “I like climbing trees,” “I want somewhere to hide,” or “Water is fun.” They think through feelings, materials, and play, not through architectural plans.
This observation became the basis of my next prototype.
Instead of asking children to design a playground directly, I created three categories:
- Materials & Elements
- Feelings
- Play
Children can connect these categories in different ways. For example, they might associate water with freedom, or wood with climbing. There are no correct combinations.
This approach is inspired by participatory design, where the role of the designer is not to collect fixed answers but to create tools that support expression.
I also intentionally left empty cards in every category. Children should not be limited by my assumptions. If they think of something I did not include, they can simply create a new card.
In this sense, the cards become less like a survey and more like a shared design language between children and designers.
