What do you associate playing on an interactive floor with?
Playing on an interactive floor is often associated with children running or walking on the floor and expressing their emotions. When we, the creators of interactive applications at LavaVision, designed the first applications, this is exactly what we had in mind. We achieved that goal a long time ago. For several years, we have been focusing on the needs of young children and students, setting new goals, and designing new games with older students in mind.
Design challenges for older students
When it came to meeting the interests of school youth in grades 4-8, we had to understand how young people spend their free time. Unsurprisingly, they spend most of their time in front of screens (tablets, smartphones, computers, TV). Some students and young people pursue special interests in additional classes like sports, music, and programming, or develop hobbies on their own. So, the challenge was to create interactive floor activities that would interest them despite their screen time and other activities.
Given the wide array of interactive projection options provided by Motioncube software, we viewed the projector image as a large tablet or interactive board. This allowed individuals, pairs, or teams to engage in popular games or solve logical puzzles.
Competitive games and intellectual challenges
We initially tested rivalry games on older students, with a focus on football and ping pong from the "Little Steps" collection, and we received a positive response. We then continued the tests but with changes in the way we used our giant interactive board on the floor. We proposed games that used IR pens to generate small light and could be used to write on the image from the projector.
The students quickly identified their favourite games based on the names and started playing in pairs or choosing individual challenges. The "Head First" collection includes several popular games that require strategic thinking, such as Twiddle, Fifteen, Mobi, Flip, Saper, Sudoku, Gomoku, and Light On! which has been a hit for years.
Light up the Light Bulbs on the Interactive Floor
Another recommendation for engaging games that will captivate students for an extended period is tournament games, such as Billiards, Mini Golf, Petanque, or Caps Soccer. These games require skill, practising precision and concentration. They are part of the "Balls & Goals" collection, in which the balls are controlled with IR pens in an extremely intuitive and precise manner, similar to a golf or billiard club. The logic of real games is integrated into the applications, and the enjoyment and emotions experienced are comparable to those in real-life settings such as a sports field or golf course.
Play Soccer on the Interactive Floor or Table
It is important to note that students can enjoy these games on both the interactive floor and the table surfaces. The table games, such as table football and billiards, faithfully replicate the original versions.
The play area can be divided into multiple games (2, 3, or 4 different games simultaneously), allowing 4 to 8 people to participate in various activities.
We encourage you to try out these interactive challenges!
We will soon present additional game suggestions for older students in primary and middle schools.
LavaVision Team
Useful links:
- Strategic games - Head First by LavaVision
- Tournament games - Balls & Goals by LavaVision
- Interactive projection software - Motioncube.io
