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Hanzi Storytelling Box: Redefining the Way Children Interact with Chinese Characters

Designed by Jiayu Yao and her team, the Hanzi Storytelling Box is a revolutionary block toy aimed at transforming the way young children engage with Chinese characters. By leveraging a "child-oriented" design principle, the toy encourages children to appreciate the beauty of Chinese characters, explore their mysteries, and find learning fun and engaging.

The Hanzi Storytelling Box is a meaningful block toy that supports young children to engage with Chinese characters in a more friendly way. The toy kit uses the pictographic nature of characters, blending visual and auditory elements to help learners recognize and remember them. The toy divides characters into three categories by theme: nature (yellow), people (blue), and artifacts (red).

First, the child can freely play with the character blocks. They can place a single block or combine two blocks to form a specific character on the Storytelling Box. After pushing the box button, the description of the Chinese characters and the related fable will be broadcasted by the box. Secondly, the accompanying app allows users to record their own Chinese character stories and play them with the physical toy. The app also provides additional learning resources, such as words, sentences, writing strokes, associative drawing, and review.

The project started in March 2022 and finished in October 2022 in Ningbo. By combining Montessori's sensitive period for senses and Piaget's constructivism theories, and conducting a user study with children aged 3-6 years, the toy uses common objects in daily life as visual representations of Chinese characters. The existing knowledge of the children was utilized to assimilate new knowledge of Chinese characters.

With a degree in digital media technology and industrial design, Jiayu Yao has a keen interest in exploring the intersection between technology and art. Her work is her pride and joy, and she aims to design unique and impactful visuals that can make a meaningful difference. She is highly motivated to use her skills in the fields of AI, interactive design, and HCI, and is constantly seeking out new and innovative ways to combine design and technology into effective solutions.

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