MY ANIMAL BUDDY - Fostering affinity between kids and animals
Research
Desktop Research: Identified gamification & roleplaying as effective tools for engaging children, with apps like Duolingo and Pokémon GO showcasing the value of rewards, storytelling, and interactive gameplay. Parents sought tools that balance screen time with meaningful, real-world learning experiences.
Shadowing and Observation: Observed children interacting with digital tools and roleplaying scenarios, highlighting children’s preference for sensory-rich, interactive, and imaginative activities, especially during wildlife-themed play, emphasizing the value of dynamic, multi-sensory design.
Interviews: Conducted interviews with parents and children to understand that parents value roleplaying for its creativity but often miss its educational benefits, while children were excited by engaging narrators, customization, rewards, and blending digital content with real-world elements like AR.
User journey mapping: identified engagement gaps in My Animal Buddy, such as limited storytelling and offline integration, but highlighted opportunities for improvement through gamified rewards, stronger narratives, and links between digital tools and real-world conservation.
Insights
The insights revealed the importance of roleplaying, sensory stimulation, dynamic narrators, and tangible rewards in creating an engaging and educational experience for kids while emphasizing parents’ desire to instill empathy and responsibility through nature-focused activities.
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Parents are not aware of the educational benefits of roleplaying, but encourage it as they find it innocent and cute
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Parents see animals as a means for kids to have an appreciation for nature and to become accountable for its inhabitants
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Kids in this generation especially are spoilt with a constant stimulation of senses. They require a reward to stay engaged and focused.
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One of the key elements that makes kid-targeted videos entertaining is the personality of the narrator
I aimed to showcase the benefits of roleplaying to parents while sparking children’s excitement to pretend to be Wildlife Protectors. By tapping into kids’ natural desire for sensory and physical rewards, the experience is designed to trigger dopamine and keep them engaged throughout. To enhance the immersion, the campaign includes tools for kids to design their own Wildlife Protector personas, allowing them to visualize and embody their characters in the real world. A compelling narrative told through the voices of animals with bold and boisterous personalities further enriches the experience, drawing children into a vibrant and playful storytelling world.
Ideation
How might we develop a sense of Immersion and care for nature at home via My Animal Buddy through the creation of an engaging roleplaying app that educates and nurtures a connection between kids aged 4-10?
Design Concept
Translating the current MAB video and quiz materials into an engaging game experience that takes the kid through a journey across different habitats as an explorer and defender of wildlife.
Children are educated through vibrant and relatable animal buddies, each embodying diverse traits like courage, creativity, and responsibility. These animated guardians narrate videos and guide kids through tasks to earn stars, which unlock physical charms and badges at the zoo. Milestones, such as completing challenges or roleplaying tasks, are celebrated with badges, enhancing engagement and motivation. The digital games add an extra layer of rewards, allowing kids to unlock new clothing items by progressing through the Explorer’s Journey. Additionally, the charms and badges collected in the app serve as keys to access special features at the zoo through dedicated My Animal Buddy kiosks, creating a seamless and interactive experience.
Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) seeks to strengthen its mission of fostering a love for nature and affinity to animals through an engaging app for kids aged 4–10. Their existing My Animal Buddy (MAB) platform was still in their early testing stage and received poor reception from kids and parents. The brief was to validate and conceptualize ways to elevate their existing platform with immersive experiences for users to access and interact with the content. The concepts and strategies developed in this project directly informed the creation of the existing Ranger Buddy Program.