ABSTRACTTHE DESIGN OF AN URBAN EDUCATIONAL TOY TO TRAIN A LOVE OF FLORATO CHILDREN AGES 4 TO 6 YEARS OLD

• Main Author: Dinda Ciptaviana, Anastasia
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/56385
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

This final project examines the potential of educational toys to train a love for flora, in children ages4 to 6 yearsoldwho live in an urban environment. This study was conducted based on the understanding that the younger generation play an important role in maintaining the sustainability of Indonesia's biodiversity. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is increasingly difficult for children living in urban environments to interact with flora, as a result the development of their naturalist intelligence can be hampered. Therefore, this study was conducted to find ways to facilitate children's interaction and understanding of flora through products. This study uses theparallel convergent mixed method with data collection using literature studyonearly childhoodpsychological theory, early childhood education, and ““plant blindness””phenomenon, field studies through semi-structured interviewsand observation, and laboratory studies throughfirst-handfood re-grow experiments and experiments withchild participants ages 4-6 and first-handwater cuttingpropagation experiments. This is based on three assumptions, namely, children ages4-6 yearsoldhave difficulty understanding flora as living things, naturalist intelligence is a person's ability to demonstrate proficiency in recognizing and classifying flora and fauna around them, and “plant blindness”is the inability of humans to see or realizeflora in the environment.This study uses the parallel convergent mixed method with data collection using literature study, field studies, and laboratory studies. Results show that for products to have educational value and represent the natural properties of flora in an interesting and easy-to-understand way for children, design requirements are formulated, namely: primary use in the home, use as personal property, wise application of anthropomorphism, trains naturalistic intelligence, easy to care for, stimulates floral literacy, encourages empathy / attachment, and creating room for parental guidance. Fulfilling the eight points, the concept of “plant pet” was chosen for further development. The final product, named "Amame", emphasizes the true nature offlora visually through gestures, symbolism, metaphors, consideration of children's perceptions of living things, etc. Further experiments need to be carried out to validate the effectiveness of the design requirementsthat have been formulated. Until now,products with a similar concept involving interactions with native flora are still very scarce, therefore research to find alternative methods for practicing love of flora in children aged 4-6 years is still needed. Research is also needed that can confirm the position of design in responding to this problem so that designers can mediate the attractiveness of design with the objectivity of plantscience in designing products regarding flora