CMC to host brand new interactive exhibition, Playground

The Children’s Media Conference is hosting a brand new interactive exhibition, Playground, for children, families and delegates to run alongside this year’s conference. From 5-10 July, Sheffield city-centre venue Site Gallery will be showing a free exhibition of art works where children can play and interact. There’ll be 12 exhibits plus a Maker Room where kids can get their hands dirty.

Dubit has been announced as Founding Sponsor of Playground, which will headline with Fairy Garden, Dubit’s new HTC Vive piece. HTC Vive is the most immersive Virtual Reality experience available at the moment and Dubit will be showing it to its full advantage at Playground.

With ‘Blinkies’, from Lost My Name, a child’s drawing can be placed over a phone or tablet, which will turn the drawing into an animation and make it come to life. ‘The Cardboard Arcade’, by Unstable King, is a portable pop-up video game arcade. ‘Fairy Doors’ from Sago Sago is a hide and seek game for preschoolers. Also included are Google Cardboards – headsets which use smart phones to view mini-Virtual Reality games.

The ‘Avakai Twins’ from Vai Kai are wooden toys which are connected to each other using Bluetooth technology. Anything one doll experiences, is sent to another doll – the laughter when its swinging, anger when its shaken, or a kiss when the two dolls meet.

In the Maker Room, children can create sculptures and scenes using ‘Electro Dough Kits by Technology Will save Us’, and then bring them to life with light and sound. It’s a simple and fun way for children to get their hands on with electronic components and for them to learn how electricity flows through a circuit. Visitors can also play with Flashing Cards by Bare Conductive, which does much of the same thing, using conductive paint.

Organisers say the exhibition has been curated for 5-12 year olds but everyone is welcome to drop-in for free during opening hours.

Sharna Jackson, Curator of Playground said: “I’m so pleased to bring this interactive digital show with works from across the world to Sheffield. The show is focused on works that are a bridge between the physical and digital, the ‘real’ and the virtual, the practical and seemingly impossible. There’s much more to digital for kids than seemingly mind-numbing apps and Playground hopes to give all a visitors a taste of what’s possible.”