Creating a tool for early years education: design, development, and outcomes

A retrospective of the BUas contribution to the ALT-ER educational game project. The game's design and development was led by BUas, and the content with created in conjunction with other partners in the ALT-ER project. The game was a tool to facilitate conversations between young children and adults about topics that are of importance to their development. Unlike many educational games, the purpose was not to explicitly teach, instead it was to create a playful space in which children could explore and explain their experiences. This facilitated insights from the adults into the thoughts of the children and assisted in guiding their development. The core basis was to not replace the expertise of teachers, but instead to make their work easier. Design considerations for young children and adults were discussed.