Abstract:

The main objective of this research is to make children aged five to eleven years aware about the importance of local traditions and culture identities and informally teach them the same values through their involvement in different kind of learning experiences. This project intends to reach these goals by activating a communication channel based on their natural ways of expression, attitudes and new generation specific cultures. The final target is to give children a basic knowledge about these traditional and local items to be used as starting point for future developments.

Nowadays, this objective has a particular relevance as the cultural heritage of local territories is more and more becoming a cultural asset to save in order to valorize the different cultures’ peculiarities. At the same time, young people, are increasingly recognized by the society as the main actors of the future in preserving the cultural legacy.

The project covers many aspects of the local habits, from traditional street games to local and oral tales and typical traditional food culture.
The starting point of the research derive from the raise of consciousness that children need to play every day for as long as possible because by performing the action of playing they learn and experiment about their abilities and competences. According to these processes the research proposes a new collaborative approach in learning and sharing traditional values of territory using games activities and ludic experiences as educational tools for their cultural grow.

In this way, the playing becomes an active tool for the discovery of the world and for the understanding of traditions and values of their own territory, and also those one of the other neighboring ones.

Moreover, the research uses the graphic art design as universal language to communicate with children as it is considered one of the best means of communicating with children of different backgrounds and cultures.

Besides, the present work has developed a series of innovative games design approaches , with friendly graphic user interfaces, both material and digital, and ludic experiences, to exemplify the research meaning.

This approach allows future generations to know traditions, events or practices of the past that otherwise risk to disappearing. According to these experiences children become also able to evaluate strength and weakness about the direction of development of habits and traditions and consequently they become able to propose new ones in the future.

In conclusion of this study, it underlines that some experimentation and evalution made during the case study and co-working activities highlight those elements that are able to communicate, interact and to be used easily and joyfully by children according to their learining aims. These results individuates some open rules that the research suggests to follow by designing informal learning systems for children aged 5-11 years.

Keywords:

Children, design, tradition, learning experiences.