Serious Play

Through Serious Play, Dott co-designed a playground that can potentially supply power to the National Grid and has inspired a whole new generation of play.

Children have boundless energy. Running. Swinging. Jumping. Shouting. And Serious Play has helped to inspire the next generation by putting this energy to positive use in these energy-hungry times. At its outset, the project sought to discover whether we can harness the energy of children at play, and feed it into the energy supply. Now, by making energy generation community-based and seriously good fun, the project has delivered co-designed playground equipment, co-created sustainable power and co-built an adventure playground!

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20th October 2010: The Play tour

Serious Play made a tour of Cornish communities in a half term roadshow at the Bedruthan Steps Hotel and Spa, Mawgan Porth. Being one of the most family friendly hotels in Cornwall, it was the perfect venue for hosting a fun and educational event. The Serious Play team and their prototypes were positioned in the hotel's ballroom all day- and the team's energy play activities formed part of the in house family entertainment. With stunning ocean views across the Atlantic and breathtaking coastline, the team had lots of inspiration from all of the young people and families involved.

14th October 2010: Play Tour

The Dott play apparatus was put through its paces at Events Square in Falmouth. The newly modified prototypes were on the square all day, and a number of children (and adults) were able to help to co-design ideas with the Play team as well as trial the Play equipment.

We held a roadshow event at Chyan Community Field, Halvasso, Penryn (see:www.chyan.org.uk). The event was called 'Apple Day with Serious Play' marking the end of the apple harvest, with lots of apple bobbing, pressing, cider making as well as our stuff .

27th September 2010: Play Goes on Tour

The Play team took a re-vamped prototype to the St. Just Fair for the Future. Children of all ages were able to help co-design the devices while learning about how energy could be created from their own movements.

15th June 2010: Co-Designing Continues

During the Royal Cornwall Show, children were asked to draw on a postcard what they would like the Play contraption to look like. We received a handful of creative, colourful designs, above are a just a selection of them. There were ideas from human hamster wheels to exploding bubbles and energy generating rope swings to a fusion reactor! All ideas will be fed back to the designers and you may well even see them as prototypes in the future.

10th June 2010: Play at the Royal Cornwall Show

The Play team showcased their prototype playground equipment at the Royal Cornwall Show in Wadebridge. The event recorded over 100,000 visitors, many of whom came to the Dott stand in the Green Energy Village. There were 2 Play pieces on show, one allowing children (or adults) to spin on plastic disks consequently turning on a number of colourful lights. The other prototype gained a lot of appeal due to the noises that were produced by inflating a balloon, while jumping on 2 ‘bulb like’ pods. It was a good form of exercise as well as sounding like a church organ. Overall, it was a very successful 3 days for Serious Play, and many local schools and groups have shown an interest in working with the project.

1st June 2010: The Fruit Machine

Each of the 4 energy field bulbs were composed of 3 key components: a cap (or ‘doer’), a stalk (or ‘connector’) and a root (or ‘transformer’). The interactive fruit machine is a way in which the target audience can create their own selections of the 3 components and rearrange to create a workable bulb prototype, which creates energy through play. This fruit machine interactive was central to ongoing co-design sessions and has formed part of both the RCS showcase and future exhibitions within the community.

28th May 2010: Rough Cut Video – Co-Discover Stage

The Play Energy Field was a platform for children, young people and families to create energy through play, in a fun but also educational way. The Play team created four prototypes, or ‘bulbs’ which focused on four energy themes: Water, wind, heat/light and kinetic. These prototypes formed the central part of a showcase at the Royal Cornwall Show (RCS) 2010. Through ongoing co-design and a future programme of discovery sessions these prototypes will be resolved, with the target audience, and added to, to create a growing and evolving energy field.

15th April 2010: Co-Design Workshop

The real challenge of the Dott Play project was to create a piece of play apparatus that could make energy generation fun, educational and accessible. The project’s focus centred around the link between play and sustainable energy production. Through co-discovery and co-design the project asked our target audience to define the meaning of both play and energy and come up with a fun, interactive solution to the challenge of energy generation through play.