i-Theatre: Tangible interactive storytelling

Abstract

Storytelling is fundamental for the cognitive and emotional development of children. New technologies combined with playful learning can be an effective instrument for developing narrative skills. In this paper we describe i-Theatre, a collaborative storytelling system designed for pre-school children: with it, it is possible to use characters and scenarios drawn on paper for creating a digital story, using simple animation techniques and recording voices and sounds. For implementing it, we combined a multitouch surface with a set of tangible objects. This choice allowed lowering the learning effort of a new interface, letting the child to be immersed directly into the storytelling process from the very begining. © 2012 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.