TableCanvas: Remote Open-Ended Play in Physical-Digital Environments

Remote video communication is now part of everyday life, also for families. At the same time, children encounter digital devices at an early age, but studies indicate that physical play is still vital for their development. To support physical play at a distance, we introduce two prototypes build around projection displays, WallWizard and TableCanvas. Both allow users to play together remotely by combining physical and digital elements on shared surfaces. We evaluated our prototypes through an expert review, and, based on this study, we elaborate further on TableCanvas. We conducted a second qualitative user study with an updated prototype, focused on evaluating the remote aspect. The overall feedback was positive and suggested that the concept could facilitate and promote open-ended play, as well as support a successful remote play experience. Users also indicated additional potential use cases for board gaming, education, and work-related tasks.