It is designed with children in mind. The target audience is children ages 4-7 and their parents who are geographically separated from the children.

Parents can practice recording stories on their mobiles and when they send the recording to the toy, which their children will have, they can attach photos with 6 different backgrounds that each express a different emotion. On the other hand, children can play voice messages and replay them any time they need. Also, children can respond to their parents by pressing emotion buttons.

Background
http://ezinearticles.com/?Encouraging-Emotional-Expression-in-Children&id=2834422

By Matt Casper



volunteerguide.org



http://mindinthemaking.org/article/executive_function_skills_are_essential_to_americas_present_and_future/



http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/you-wont-remember-this-either/



http://www.sensoryspectrumshop.com/category.php?category_id=186



http://mindinthemaking.org/article/executive_function_skills_are_essential_to_americas_present_and_future/



Zero-to-Six-Electronic-Media-in-the-Lives-of-Infants-Toddlers-and-Preschoolers-PDF, Henry J.Kaiser Family Foundation and the Children’s Digitla Media Centers(CDMC)



Ainsworth’s Theory and Bowlby’s Theory:

The Origins of Attachment Theory By John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth



Harry Harlow’s experiment



Less Is More: Meta-Analyses of Sensitivity and Attachment Interventions in Early Childhood by Marian J. Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, and Femmie Juffer Leiden University



The whole child development guide by LEGO group



Interaction Design and Children by Juan Pablo Hourcade

University of Iowa, USA, hourcade@cs.uiowa.edu



http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/multimedia/videos/inbrief_series/inbrief_program_effectiveness/



Yardsticks:Children in the Classroom, Ages 4-14/ by Chip Wood



Tangible user interfaces for children

by Glenda Revelle,Sesame Workshop, New York, NY

Oren Zuckerman, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, MA

Allison Druin, University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Mark Bolas, USC School of Cinema-Television, Los Angeles, CA

Audience
Mainly 4-7 years old children and their parents.
furthermore, this will be very helpful for autistic children to develop social interaction skills



User Scenario
1. Imagine a child left alone at home while her parents are at work.
2. Imagine a passive and negatively-minded child, facing difficulties in integrating with her peer group.
3. Imagine a child undergoing extensive inpatient care, unable to leave the hospital and separated from his parents.
4. Or imagine yourself, wanting to delve into childhood memories of your parents or grandparents. The warmth you feel as you play back a voice message left by your late grandmother.


Implementation
Mobile application

The ‘Just for you mobile App’ allows geographically distant or frequently absent parents to use media devices that they already use in their everyday lives -- which provides ease of access -- to record bedtime stories for their beloved children and to communicate with the Just for you toy that their children have. Through the the app, parents can send their children brief messages of love, or practice and record lullabies and bedtime stories. Parents can also attach photos of their own faces to the messages, expressing one of six different emotional states: Happy, Confident, Sad, Angry, Lonely, and Surprised.





The ‘Just for you’ toy

Following a children-oriented design scheme, this toy is a cushion-type huggable doll with a digital display screen. It also has six facial expression buttons that children can press to convey their emotions and reactions. The content consists of songs and stories that parents record for their children with the mobile app 'Just for You'.

The device makes use of existing APIs such as PhoneGap, and the Arduino Prototyping API for Wifi, MP3, and an LCD touch screen to apply the technology of digital communication for children.

In turn, the children can download voice messages to the toy when Wifi is available, and then listen to the stored files offline anytime they need. In contemporary life, children six and under are observed to spend three times longer with screen media every day than they do reading or being read to. Therefore, the ‘Just for you’ toy is helpful for maintaining children’s close relationships with their parents and for their early education.





Appearance

The matter of which colors and design motifs boys and girls prefer has been surveyed and applied to the device. Children in general like bright and cheerful colors which are highly saturated, and an appropriate number of colors are used on the toy so that it feels comfortable and friendly. The toy body is filled with a soft and squishy cushion and covered in a non-toxic, eco-friendly 100% polyester micro-weave fabric for young children’s sensitive skin. It is created without pricey media components, in order to make it affordable for many users who are willing to buy and use it to express their love for their children.

Conclusion
Listen and watch
All parents need to take the time to listen, observe, and talk to their children about what is happening around them. This can teach children good listening and communication skills, respect and support for differing opinions, and ways to manage fears and anxieties.