Irene Guerrieri on Designing Educational Toys and Spaces for Children

Architect Irene Guerrieri, a leading expert in designing games and spaces for children in Italy, discusses her book 'Designing Educational Toys & Spaces' and the principles of child-centered design. The book emerged from encounters with key figures in educational design, including Bruno Munari, Cas Holman, Rosan Bosch, and Rasu Watanabe. Guerrieri emphasizes that children are happiest when creating independently, and that good designers and educators should 'move to the periphery,' providing tools for autonomous exploration. She criticizes the toy industry for miniaturizing adult objects, which stifles imagination, advocating instead for 'open' objects that invite creative completion. Key design elements include openness, interaction, imagination, and play. Rosan Bosch's school designs replace traditional classrooms with open, shared spaces using large toy-like furniture to foster collaboration. Rasu Watanabe's 'Cacapo' system uses simple line and point elements to teach children spatial transformation and cooperation, inspired by Japan's 2011 earthquake. Guerrieri lists criteria for good design: satisfaction, pleasure, autonomy, development, exploration, learning, playability, fun, lightness, practicality, ease, and sustainability. She recommends the book to designers, educators, and pedagogists to improve living through education.