Kids' Interactive Block Water Co-Creation Workshop

What it does

This innovative kids' hydration tool tackles global underhydration, empowering healthy habits. Merging blocks and gamified feedback in a "physical-digital" cycle, it turns drinking into games. Kids create, transforming habits, leaping from passivity to action.

Your inspiration

Global kids' underhydration: 2024 WHO data shows ~30% of 6-12s miss 1500-2000mL daily, with long-term harm to development, focus, learning. Traditional supervision fails; adult-made smart products, no kids' input, use data feedback without behavioral-logic loops, causing mismatches. Solution: merge kids' traits with design thinking. 1. Kids love blocks (Lego) – top-three in toy surveys, interest in building, collecting, gaming; 2. Inspired by "participatory design" (kids as equals), combine blocks' creativity with gamified feedback, turn forced drinking into active interaction, make hydration a spontaneous game for healthy habits.

How it works

This children's drinking intervention uses a "physical creation + gamified feedback" dual cycle to turn passive drinking into active exploration: 1. Kids build custom drinking devices with blocks—free to design (e.g., spaceships, robots)—blending drinking with creative fun. An NFC chip in the device recognizes the child via their figurine, auto-retrieving their game progress. 2. Each drink triggers reality-to-virtual feedback: Infrared sensors ensure safety, then detect the cup, dispensing fixed amounts after 3 seconds. 200mL drank completes a virtual task, restoring game ecosystems and awarding collectibles; overdrinking desolates the virtual world as a reminder. In short, kids play with blocks while engaging in a virtual world through drinking, making hydration as fun as gaming—safe and solving "kids disliking drinking."

Design process

1. Problem Insight: 6-12-year-olds resent parental urging to drink; kids' cups rely on looks, failing to sustain motivation. Key: Balance fun (for kids) and practicality (for parents), shifting kids from passive to active. 2. Concept Germination: Dropping "pure smart cups" and "pure virtual games," leveraging kids' love for blocks (top 3 in toys) and game feedback logic, I chose "blocks + games" – a "build → drink → get rewards" loop. 3. First Prototype: Lego + thermos, with paper cards (stickers for 200mL, 5 for block prizes). Issues: cumbersome tracking, blocks unlinked to drinking, fading interest. 4. Technical Iteration: Added NFC chips (embedded when building) and dual infrared sensors (safety + cup check). Upgraded feedback: drinking unlocks maps, teaching moderate intake. 5. Summary: Three iterations merged feasibility, experience and science, using blocks for initiative and virtual-real feedback for motivation, turning healthy drinking from task to active creation + game.

How it is different

Traditional kids' drinking products only offer ready-made items, but this design lets kids build their own with blocks—turning "buying toys" into "making them." Linking drinking to creativity solves passive use and short-lived interest. Existing solutions lack physical incentives or real-world ties. This creates a loop: build blocks → drink → unlock virtual scenes → drink actively to keep creating/leveling up, grounding incentives in reality and avoiding over-reliance on screens. It balances kids' fun and parents' needs (unlike similar products). For adults: Lego compatibility (lower costs), detachable parts (hygiene ease), real-time data (reassurance). For kids: eco-storylines and NFT rewards. Rewards, unlike mere virtual badges, tie to science education—turning "drinking challenges" into nature learning, avoiding "drinking just for rewards" and adding growth value.

Future plans

The workshop validates "physical creation + gamified feedback" drives healthy behaviors, expanding from kids' drinking to healthcare. Short-term: Refine kids' scenarios, physical-virtual fit, add maps/NFTs, diversify participation. Medium-term: Medical pilots—doctors make "disease games" for chronic patients, turning monitoring/medication into gamified goals; "competitiveness + achievement" replaces supervision, building patient-led networks. Long-term: Cross-scenario health ecosystem with linked gamified systems; universal incentives reshape medical logic to "active management", boosting compliance, redefining relations/ecosystems.

Awards

The design has successfully obtained a utility model patent and passed the preliminary examination for a national invention patent, entering the substantive examination stage of the national invention patent.