Expressivity in Open-ended Constructive Play: Building and Playing Musical Lego Instruments

This paper presents the findings from a case study in designing for open-ended constructive play for children. The study is based on a workshop where more that 150 children in ages 3-13 built and played their own musical instruments from Lego. The children used different sensors for playing and performed with their instruments on stage. The workshop was facilitated by a tangible music-making platform called Hitmachine, aiming to empower children to collectively make expressive music without the need for prior musical skills. The findings show how age influenced the children's expressivity, and gives insight into the open-ended qualities of constructive play with music. Based on these findings we propose the Constructive Play Expressivity Model, as a tool for guiding designers' way of thinking about different areas of expressivity, when designing for constructive play interaction.