Legoons: Inflatable Construction Kit for Children
Xuefei Yang, Stefania Druga · 2019
Legoons is a ready-to-play inflatable construction kit that enables children, 6 to 12 year old, to construct characters and artifacts that can be actuated by pumping air. Our set features three types of silicone bricks with distinct behaviors when inflated, as well as various decoration bricks, connectors, and stoppers. With our design, we propose adding soft materials and organic motion to the traditionally rigid and mechanical construction kits. Our unconventional kit celebrates children's imaginations with playful and transforming materials, as well as their desire for personal expression that motivates them to tinker, experiment, and bring their creations to life. We describe our project's various design iterations, fabrication steps and discuss the lessons we learned from our initial playtests with children.