Read-It: five-to-seven-year-old children learn to read in a tabletop environment

Augmented tabletops can be used to create multi-modal and collaborative environments in which natural interactions with tangible objects that represent virtual (digital) information can be performed. Such environments are considered potentially interesting for many different applications. In this paper, we address the question of whether or not it makes sense to use such environments to design learning experiences for young children. More specifically, we present the "Read-It" application that we have created to illustrate how augmented tabletops can support the development of reading skills. Children of five-to-seven-years old were actively involved in designing and testing this application. A pilot experiment was conducted with a prototype of the Read-It application, in order to confirm that it does indeed meet the a priori expectations. We hope that the Read-It application will inspire the development of more tabletop applications that are targeted at specific user groups and activities.