This project is about an interactive, hands-on, educational sandbox that allows kids to become real archaeologists. They can literally dig in the sand and look for virtual fossils. When the fossils are found, they animate and tell you the story of their life. It’s magic!

Background
We did a lot of research on dinosaurs: what era they lived in, where their fossils were found and who their ancestors were. We also did a significant amount of work learning Pocode and the kinect library in c++.

Audience
Mostly kids, but anyone who likes dinosaurs and digging in the sand!

User Scenario
People crowd around our sandbox. They're instructed to dig for dinosaur fossils. When someone finds one, the dinosaur comes to life and tells you their story.

Implementation
The sandbox was constructed with wood, and it's filled with sand. There's a projector and a Kinect mounted overhead. We've already used this setup during User Testing Day, and it worked out quite well.

Conclusion
We discovered that sand makes a terrific surface for displaying images. We learned that people have a lot of fun digging in our sandbox and that this could be a great way for kids to learn in a hands-on exploratory way.