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MA Graphic Design Communication | 2011-2012

Andreea Anamaria Dumuta | DUM11343531

Bricks of Hope

-an exploration of ways in which graphic design

communication can facilitate sensory experimentation

for children living in an institutionalized environment

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Introduction

Montessori education, firstly introduced in 1907 in Rome, quickly became a spread model of educa-

tion in the United States and later on, all around the world. Described by Maria Montessori, the initia-

tor of this system, as ’scientific pedagogy’ (1964), this philosophy of education was a result of explora-

tion into children’s stages of development and experimentation with what their environment can facilitate

in terms of interactions and lessons provided. For a child in a Montessori school, interaction with and

within the environment represents the driver to self- construction and psychological development.

The Montessori philosophy of education followed an interest in adapting children’s environment

to their educational needs, a matter which is deeply rooted in previous theories of children devel-

opment, such as the Theory of Cognitive Development and philosophies of pedagogical approach,

such as the Antroposophy and Reggio Emilia philosophy. Tailoring children’s spaces to better accom-

modate their changing developmental needs has influenced the agenda in different research di-

rections regarding children educational development through sensory experimentation: from

defining the role of the environment in a child’s journey and identifying the stages of children’s de-

velopment to investigating ways in which children’s interaction with objects can affect their growth.

While following some of the previous arguments introduced in what regards the role of the environment in a

child’s growth, I will choose a more specific context for my research, namely the child-care institution from Ro-

mania and explore how graphic design communication can help facilitate sensory experimentation for children

living there to encourage their development. I will argue that children’s developmental needs and sensory ex-

perimentation should be considered as main criteria when designing the objects that fit into this environment.

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More than that, I will stress the importance of involving children into the process of redesigning this institutional

environment and provide new approaches to graphic design methods that could help respond to this social issue.

My argumentation starts with a series of theories and ideas on children’s stages of develop-

ment and the importance of sensory experimentations in a child’s growth. I will look to pres-

ent the notion of a child’s environment and argue its importance in supporting children’s learn-

ing and understanding at their different stages of their development. Previous discoveries and

research results crossing areas such philosophy, psychology, sociology will be introduced as a theoreti-

cal foundation which aims to link concepts such as cognitive development, sensorial exploration, ob-

ject interaction, while experiments and specific examples will present how they apply to real contexts.

In the second chapter, I will outline and reflect on case studies which bring about a different ap-

proach to designing engaging objects for children, by following a thorough process of research

and investigation on children’s stages of development and the contributions of interactive de-

sign. The utilized concepts and graphic methods used will be discussed in relevance to the aim of

the design outcome for the identified users. In the same time, I will analyze the potential they

bring in the area of experimental design and sensorial engagement within a child’s environment.

The next chapter will present my response to the issue scrutinized, as a result of reflecting theoretical in-

vestigation and research experimentation into my studio practice. I will introduce my own definition of

institutional environment as a place which supports and encourages children’s personal development by

providing them with the means to sensory experiment and engage with and within it. Moreover, I will

bring arguments to support how my design response, through the rationale and methods used, deliv-

ers new directions to reshaping a child’s institutional environment from a graphic design’s point of view.

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The role of sensory experimentation in a child’s environment

While trying to define what environment represents in the journey from childhood to adulthood, we

come across the notion of a ‘social construction’ (Day, 2007) which ‘defines lived experience by provid-

ing a form through which sensation can be contextualized’. Experience, along with perception, according

to John Locke (1996) becomes a knowledge facilitator for children, as they have to develop their mind

from a ‘tabula rasae’ to an adult. Through the environment, children explore and experience the world

that constantly unfolds its meanings. Their knowledge derives from their experiences, from the encoun-

ters they have in the place and the space they live in and the different interactions that emerge in these

contexts. The way children interact with environment and make sense of the world is highly dependent on

the four children’s developmental stages, introduced by Professor Jean Piaget (1971) in his Theory of Cogni-

tive Development. According to the theory, during each of these stages, children reach a certain level of

intellectual development when they can learn new cognitive content. Consequently, they develop a rela-

tion with their social environment, which is described by philosopher Lev Vygotsky as the ‘social situation

of development’ (Vygotsky, 1998). This relation is considered to be ‘completely original, exclusive, single

and unique’(Vygotsky, 1998) and appears at the beginning of each age period determining ‘wholly and

completely’(Vygotsky, 1998) in what way children will shape personalities and achieve new characteristics.

One of the philosophers to acknowledge the importance of adapting children’s environment to their changing

needs in different stages of development was Rudolf Steiner, whose Antroposophy philosophy became the

base for Waldorf education or Steiner education. This approach to pedagogy looked to help children develop

in an environment that supports their physical, emotional and intellectual growth by adapting it to the chang-

ing needs of children in three major stages of development. A later philosophy, namely the Reggio Emilia one,

started by teacher Loris Malaguzzi in villages from Italy after the second World War, introduced an approach

of how a children’s environment should be shaped around their developmental needs and expectations. The

philosophy led to creating an educational system where children are encouraged to be active participants in

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shaping their identities and abilities. This was considered a result of the interaction between children and all the

environment’s components, from educators to peers, objects or events that occur in this space and the learning

through sensory experiences, which became one of the strong principles that the philosophy was based upon.

This series of interactions and relations children establish with the world around them starts from the

very first moment they are born. It was argued that small schildren don’t think (Day, 2007) being even

described as‚ ’entirely sense-organ’ by professor Rudolph Steiner. Hence, they experience their environ-

ment through senses. Sensory investigation leads children in their journey from childhood to aduld-

hood and is considered by teacher Loris Malaguzzi (1996) to be vital for a child’s development. Him, at

the same time, aknowledges the importance of environment ‘...we place enormous value on the role of

the environment as a motivating and animating force in creating spaces for relations, options, and emo-

tional and cognitive situations that produce a sense of well-being and security.’ (Malaguzzi, 1996, p.40).

As argued, children experience environment through its components, be them people or objects. Very ear-

ly in children’s life, objects can influence their developmental path. Their aknowledgement of objects as

’enduring elements’ that compose the physical world leads them to better understand abstract concepts

(Piaget, 1952). While interacting with them, children explore and perceive their properties, which, accord-

ing to Donald Norman, define the concept of affordance (Norman, 2000). Affordance, in the same time,

ascertains the functional properties of the child’s environment (Gibson, 1979) and is a concept that en-

ables analyzing child-environment relationships and identifying child-friendly environments (Kytta, 2003).

Children’s interest in exploring the objects surrounding them begins from their second stage of develop-

ment, namely from 3 to 7 years, period in which they also try to integrate objects into a structured whole

(Vurpillot, 1972). In this attempt, children experience their first contacts with people and things by playing

(Erikson, 1995). As psychologist Erik Erikson suggests, through play, children also create ‘model situations’

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to deal with experiences and ‘master reality by experiment and planning’ (Erikson, 1995, p.199). Sensory ex-

perimentation of objects becomes a necessity to helping children link perceptions with concepts (Day, 2007)

and a facilitator to creating children’s attachement to environment and nourishing personal development.

Establishing the criteria for educational design

All the previous investigation in the area of children development and the importance of sensory experimen-

tation led to a general interes from a design point of view also. Questions raised made designers consider de-

veloping design projects for children, following arguments introduced in such theories. The influence Jean

Piaget’s theory on children’s development has on children design can be closely observed in a series of design

projects, among which stands ‘I Mirabillia’1 by italian designer Erica Rossi. For this project, Rossi chose to

work with hospitalized children and developed and executed a family of three interactive dolls to be used in

a certain context, depending on a three relationship level created with regards to Jean Piaget theory of Cog-

nitive Development. Chosing loneliness, guilt and shyness as the main key-words for the psychological states

of these hospitalized children, each of the three dolls represents a solution for children to overcome one of

these feelings. The high level of interaction leads to creating a strong bond between the doll and the user,

while the doll becomes an emotional support. ‘I Mirabillia’ stands as an argument of the added value care-

fully chosen graphic design methods bring in the area of children design. Children’s participation during the

design process with knowledge and imagination led to creating a design outcome which beautifully merges

technology, such as RFID, to create a strong interaction between child and object and craft techinques, to

achieve a more humanized and carefully presented outcome. Such integration of technology into other de-

sign methods presents a potential of exploring means of interaction between children and objects and be-

comes a driver for new user experiences also from the point of sensory exploration in a child’s environment.

Object design for children can be therefore regarded as a more complex process which has to follow pat-

terns of thinking and execution by looking both through a designer’s lenses and through a user’s ones.

1 For more information on Erica Rossi’s project, see: <http://www.erikarossi.com/wordpress/>

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Rossi’s outcome proves that while working with children, aspects of designs, such as affordance, practicality

and matterials used should be continuously tested and improved, as a result of communication between de-

signer and users. What Rossi achieves with this project in the end is creating a design outcome with a visible

human touch imprint determined by the use of materials, techniques and the strong rationale used, which

alltogether strenghten the efficiency of the design and lead to facilitating a stronger sensory experience for

the children. Thus, the project became a good reference for my own project as it broadens the horizon to

creating interactive design outcomes for helping children overcome personal or social issues and presents

ideas as to how designers should intertwine research and design techniques and put them to better use.

Rossi, Erika. (2011) I Mirabilia: Oddo, Tello, Lucio-the three interactive dools. [online image]. Available at: <http://www.erikarossi.com/wordpress/?page_id=20> [Ac-cessed 14 April 2012].

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Designing such engaging objects for children becomes a demanding task in which designers should bal-

ance elements of interactivity with playfullness and consider affordance, as children seek to be in con-

trol of their environment, thus of the objects they encounter. The responsibility of designers in devel-

oping product design concepts for children should become also a matter of finding the right means to

shape objects towards a more educational side. A thorough exploration of the potential interactive ob-

jects have in helping children’s cognitive development brings to surface ingenious possibilities in which

they can become educational support . An example of such objects designed to become learning support

in a child’s institutional environment is ‘Pas a Pas’2, an interactive educational tool conceived and devel-

oped by Ishac Bertran, which enables children to create stop motion animation using different sets of

Rossi, Erika. (2011) I Mirabilia: user interaction. [online image]. Available at: <http://www.erikarossi.com/wordpress/?page_id=20> [Accessed 14 April 2012].

2For more information on Pas a Pas, see: <http://pasapas-project.com/>

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Bertran, Ishac. (2010) Pas a Pas device. [online image]. Available at:

<http://pasapas-project.com/> [Accessed 20 May 2012].

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elements to teach specific content for a certain age group. The animation outcome, as Bertran explains,

aims to bridge ’the gap between abstract concepts from maths, physics or arts and reality’ (Ishac Ber-

tran, 2012). While encouraging sensory experimentation through the use of various matterials to cre-

ate stop- motion animation, ‘Pas a Pas’ sets an example of how simple interactive activities can change

the way children feel about dealing with difficult tasks. More then being an educational support for chil-

dren, ‘Pas a Pas’ becomes a device which encourages group activity, facilitating social bond and interac-

tion between children and brings together their creativity and interest in exploring the environment.

While designing objects to fit in children’s spaces, a subject of interest for designers’ research and

practice becomes the extent to which adults, them being parents, educators or child-carers, are in

control of the space. As children are dependent on adults providing them with the right environ-

ment to grow in, these spaces are frequently dominated and overruled by them. In child-care insti-

tutions in particular, adults’ control of the environment becomes more transparent, as they primar-

Inside Out Lamp (2012). [online image]. Available at: <http://www.linyunung.com/Inside-Out> [Accessed 21 April 2012].

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ily try to create a functional space. Here, children have less control over their space, from furniture, to

toys and objects. According to the Audit of Social Services for Children in Romania, in more than half

of the institutions’ houses, the children’s rooms are not personalized. As a result, most of the child-

care houses in Romania are evaluated as unfriendly both by specialists and by children, who can hard-

ly remeber a happy day in the institution. (Auditul Serviciilor Sociale pentru Copii din Romania, 2012).

In the attempt of finding solutions to how children can become more in control of their environment, de-

signer Lin Yu-Nung identified the potential of furniture to create more interactive experiences for children

and regarded its affordance when redesigning the ‘Inside Out Lamp’3. Yu-Nung’s design encourages children

to use the object in a new way, by drawing on both sides of the lamp and use their illustrations to play

with the light. By using friendly materials to allow children to personalize the design of the lamp, the ob-

Inside Out Lamp- user interaction (2012). [online image]. Available at: <http://www.linyunung.com/Inside-Out> [Accessed 21 April 2012].

3For more information on Lin Yu- Nung project, see: <http://www.linyunung.com/Inside-Out>

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ject sends the message that they are in control of it, thus in control of what happens in their environment.

The ’Inside Out Lamp’ proves to be an example of design that empowers children and can influence their

perception of spaces as a result of the interactions they have with the objects in their environment. This

becomes relevant to all children’s environments, more so to institutionalized environments, who need to

create friendly spaces for children and remind them that they control the environment and not vice-versa .

Responses to the problem

Going through theories and ideas on the project’s matter, as well as through a series of case studies

that opened directions to how I can tackle this issue, helped me move forward and conduct my experi-

ments. As my project’s aim, to reshape an institutional environment, represents a subject of service de-

sign thinking, I became aware that co-designing has to play a great role in the overall process. Therefore,

children got involved starting the beginning of my research. With the first experiments4, I looked to see

how aware children are of the objects from their environment and how attached they are to their per-

sonal space. A drawing exercise where they were asked to map their room led me to decode meanings

hidden in their sketches, by looking at the use of color and details and comparing their works with real

pictures of their room. Some of the children’s drawings showed effort and care towards details, such

as adding names on beds to personalize belongings or bright colors, which revealed a certain level of

attachment to the place and a more positive attitude. On the other hand, drawings where rooms were

partially sketched and lacked in details or color reflected a detachment to the place, the difficulty to ad-

just to it, hence a weak connection to the objects from their rooms and their belongings. The causes I

identified for this issue were the absence of personal space and objects inside the room, and a too

strictly organized and monitored space, which reflected the institutional feel of the environment. Later,

more activities and in-depth interviews conducted during my second visit in the institution emphasized

these previously identified issues and narrowed the directions in which to approach my design practice.

4For more information on the experiment, see appendix number one and number two.

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For the first direction of my design practice, I focused my attention on tackling with the space constraints,

the child-care house I worked with being one of many from Romania who deal with the problem. Not being

specially constructed to meet the needs of a child-care house, but rather readjusted to meet some of the re-

quirements, these buildings most often don’t provide children with playgrounds or outside space for activi-

ties. As a consequence, not only do children become more closed inside the institution, where they conduct

most of their activities but, even worse, they are deprived with interaction with nature, which represents

a source of continuous learning and understanding of the world in their developmental stages, providing

benefits on an emotional and physical level (Olds, 2001). Thus, encouraging children’s experimentation with

nature from early stages of development in this environment becomes a necessity, both because it links

children with elements of external world and because it enhances their knowledge about it (Olds, 2001).

As faced with the given limited outside space, an approach to solving this issue appeared to be looking into ways

in which nature can be integrated in the institution to become a constant in the children’s daily activities. Hence,

I started experimenting around the concept of an interior garden which would engage children in an educational

activity and foster sensory experimentation. The final concept, ‘Sprinkling Clouds’, aims to recreate an outdoor

learning experience that brings children from the house together, regardless of their age. They are involved in

gardening, an activity which encourages them to grow their plants or harvest crops, which makes them respon-

sible for the life of plants, while growing an attachment to nature and ‘increasing their self-esteem’ (Day, 2007).

By using the cloud-like watering pots, designed to slowly let water pour through, children recreate, to a small

scale, a natural phenomenon, rain, that allows children to play with water and change its movement, mirror-

ing their ‘ever-alive thought processes’(Day, 2007). Water’s fluid movement becomes important for children’s

educational development, as it can also send silent messages about the world they have to face after leaving

the institution. Christopher Day highlights this in his book: ‘Educationally, as life is constantly mobile, sensi-

tivity to fluid movement helps us understand it. Water-play is the first step.’(Day,2007, p.224). On the other

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Sprinkling Clouds: user scenarios and object interaction, image designed by the author.

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hand, while gardening, children interact with soil, a material they can play with, while discovering it’s physical

properties, such as malleability and water solubility, which teaches them about form and structure (Day,2007).

When presented with the concept of the ‘Sprinkling Clouds’, children of all ages from the institu-

tion became very interested in the mechanism of functioning: ‘How will it rain?’(Marcela to the au-

thor, 2012) ‘How much water can the clouds hold?’(Andreea to the author, 2012) as well as the mate-

rials used: ‘What are the clouds made of? Where will we bring soil from?’ (Ionela to the author, 2012)

proving that the look and feeling of this garden became essential for capturing children’s interest in the

activity. Nevertheless, they were very open to the idea of taking care of plants and anxious about ha-

ving this installation integrated in their environment. A significant feedback came from Marcela, an 11 year

old who was about to return back to her family: ‘I would only come back here to see when you bring the

clouds’ (Marcela to the author, 2012), showing that the object could make her feel more attached to the place.

All these responses gathered invited further experimenting with materials and prototyping, which

in the end led to a more coherent design outcome, as it was now shaped by children’s expectations.

A second direction for my studio practice experimentation emerged, as well as the first did, from the in-

depth information I was able to gather during my interviews with the children from the institution. As

children became more open to identify aspects from the environment which they were not pleased with, it

became more visible that they were constantly emphasizing their wish of being more in control of the space

and the objects they are surrounded with. Early- aged children’s confessions, during design activities, that

they would like to control the light in their rooms so that they could most of the time be in the dark, rein-

forced previous discoveries on the relationship children developed with this environment. Their willingness

of rather staying in the dark instead of embracing natural light, as confusing as it sounded in the first place,

later decoded, led to unfolding a series of other meanings. On a more psychological level, darker places feel

more protective and secure (Day, 2007) and project them into an imaginary world, as they ‘aren’t ready to

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be woken from their dreamy, fantasy-rich in-between world’ (Day, 2007, p.103). This attitude represents

mostly a characteristic of children between the ages of 2 to 7 years old, going through the second stage of

development identified in Piaget’s theory, the Preoperational stage-the same group age in which children

from the house who addressed this environmental issue were in. On another level, taking into consideration

the context of this institutional environment, where they constantly deal with the fear of being exposed to

the outside world and interacting with it, the wish of staying in the dark could be regarded as a way in which

children can break the connection with the exterior. More than acknowledging the practicality and func-

tionality of having the same ‘red curtains from our child carers room’ (Marius to the author, 2012), children

regarded these objects as means of using their power to take control over their space and be able to ‘decide

when we can play in the dark’ or ‘… just be able to sleep as long as we want in the morning, not having the

light to stop us’ (Denisa to the author, 2012). Ultimately, the curtains became the tool used to control, as

Sprinkling Clouds: idea implementation, photographed by the author.

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previously stated, the connection they would establish with the world out there, beyond the window glass.

The several layers of meanings attached by the children to the curtain as an object present in their institution-

alized environment captured my attention and lead me to experimenting with the curtain’s design. Hence, I

became interested in exploring the curtain from the point of it being a metaphor to children connection with

the outside, an object which can be redesigned to encourage them to take control over the environment. Be-

yond that, the potential which redesigning the curtain presented to the use of materials and textures, led me

to further consider how children’s sensory exploration of the object can be directed towards a more learning

experience. The textile design of the ‘Clicky Curtain’ became a response to the need of perceptual activity

(Piaget, 1961) of visual exploration. By using discontinuous lines to create shapes on the material, inspired by

children’s drawings, and a magnetic system to fold, the curtain invites children to play with folds, by identify-

ing what new visual scenarios overlapping figures can create. Children are faced with what Eliane Vurpillot

identifies to be assembling ‘the content of successive fields of centration into a coherent, structured hole’

(Vurpillot, 1976, p.57). To achieve this result, children go through a process of thinking as they have to imagine

the final form. Vurpillot (1976) calls this act as one of construction which engages all the perceptual activities.

As children will improve the ability of identifying incomplete figures during this activity, they will develop at

the same time their perceptual activities of ‘movement, anticipation and referencing’(Vurpillot, 1976, p.58).

When children control how to fold the material, they also control the light and darkness from their room and how

much they want to see through the window, hence connect with what happens outside. As shapes are made of

discontinuous lines, children have to visually fixate each part individually, which engages them more in the process.

The object becomes a canvas for creativity and imagination, where children are encouraged to freely cre-

ate their stories on curtain by folding the material and, in the same time, an element which encourages

social bond between children through sharing the stories with the other children from the house. While

children chose to verbally present the result of their activity, they are engaged in what Piaget defined to

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Clicky Curtain: user scenarios and object interaction, image designed by the author.

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be ‘egocentric speech’(Piaget, 2009) or children’s self-talk, which later Vygotsky indicated to be ‘an in-

strument of thought in the proper sense-in seeking and planning the solution of a problem’ (Vygotsky,

1997, p.31). Encouraged to do activities, such as creating stories, where they can practice their egocen-

tric speech, children from the institution are likely to become more socially competent (Wygotsky, 1997).

Soft materials used in the design of the textile, such as felt and the different textures created through the use

of embroidery aim at providing a touch-friendly experience which can become, at the same time, therapy for

children. As identified in the child-care house, due to the separation from their parents, some of the early-aged

children went through, they became aggressive and violent towards other children from the house. Marius

(6 years old) and his brother, Adrian (7 years old), now living in the child-care house for 2 years, are among

the children who are facing anger issues and violence. This becomes a threat for the rest of the children, who,

Clicky Curtain: user scenarios and object interaction, image designed by the author.

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as child carers confess, are influenced by their attitude and are likely to adopt the same behavior. Previously

used in centers for socially disturbed adolescents, such as Ruskin Mill, felt-making becomes a therapy which

helps them overcome violence. In a similar manner, by using their palm to touch the felt shapes on the cur-

tain, children from the institution experience a therapeutic touch which can fill in for their missed affection.

The curtain’s concept, along with the experiments conducted with materials and textures, was

presented to a child educator as well as a textile designer which helped me shape the final di-

rection. Constructive feedback regarding the practicality of the curtain in terms of accessibili-

ty, user-friendliness and institution’s regulations came from the child educator, contributing to-

wards identifying the scenarios in which children can interact with the objects. On the other hand,

having an opinion coming from a textile designer, opened directions to integrating materials and tex-

tures in the design and provided a better understanding of how they can facilitate a more interactive use.

Conclusions

This crititical research paper introduces concepts and theories regarding children’s stages of develop-

ment and early learning through sensory experimentation in the children’s environment. Taking the

child-care institution from Romania as the context for my research, the paper explores key concepts

such as cognitive development, sensory experimentation and object interaction and provides new

ways in which children interaction with objects from this environment can provide meaningful lessons

for their development and help overcome the problems they face when trying to adapt to this place.

Objects in this context act as a platform for institutions to use and instill values and moral lessons into

the environment. Affordance becomes a key characteristic to designing objects that meet both children’s

and institutions’ expectations, as they should meet half way between practicality and children physical

and emotional needs. Hence, it should allow children to use them as tools of play and education, which,

most importantly, they are in control with. Children are thus empowered, and become active partici-

pants in their space, which can help them develop a stronger attachement to the environment they live in.

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At the same time, the paper introduces arguments of why individual development for institutiona-

lized children should be concerned, from the point of sensory interaction, with the environment. The

child-care institution should no longer limit its role to providing children with a common place to grow.

Instead, it should regard this place as a facilitator towards learning and emotional development which

will help children aquire the knowledge needed for after leaving this environment. More than stressing

the importance of sensory experimentation for children in this environment, the paper opens the lenses

through which this can be achieved. Focusing more on the interaction children have with materials and

textures from their personal space, objects have the potential of becoming helpers for children to over-

come personal issues such as anxiety or become familiar with new concepts about world and nature.

The two objects presented as response to the issue investigated aim to encourage children’s explora-

tion of forms and materials while engaging them in new interactive ways of doing activities. By respond-

Clicky Curtain: experimentation with materials, photographed by the author.

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ing to developmental needs at different stages of growth, these objects help children aquire knowl-

edge and understand abstract concepts about the world around them. Thus, the ‘Clicky Curtain’ helps

children to engage in social play, which is particularly relevant to this object, as it controls their expo-

sure to the social world outside the institution, which they feel anxiety about. The ‘Sprinkling Clouds’,

on the other hand, intermidiate the relationship between children and nature, a relationship which

can help them overcome emotional an physical issues and enhance their knowledge about the world.

Bringing solutions in the direction of shaping an institutional environment more open to experimenting and

sensory exploration is an ongoing process in which both children and institutions need to be involved in or-

der to acurately tailor the designs to their special needs. The objects which come in response to my research

stand as an example of design that should be integrated in institutional environments, as they follow a strong

rationale and closely responses to children’s needs. However, the ideas introduced remain open to further

collaborations with product designers and textile designers that would help achieve a more refined out-

come. Further improvements can be done in terms of materials, moods and scenarios in which children can

use the objects, in relation to the way their attachement to the environments changes over time, for which

more testing and prototyping is required. Finally, in terms of the issues identified and the solution’s brought,

there still remains a wide field of investigation on children’s cognitive development, as well as exploration of

materials, textures and medias to use that can lead to other benefical results for institutionalized children.

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