TangibleTale: Designing Tangible Child–Parent Interactive Storytelling for Promoting Eating Behaviors

Tangible narrative allow children to interact with physical objects and provides an immersive storytelling approach to influence their cognition and behavior. However, research on using tangible narratives to encourage behaviors in children remains limited. To improve children's eating behaviors, we combined narrative transportation theory with behavior change principles to conduct a design study, called TangibleTale. Specifically, we conducted a formative user study (N = 12 pairs) to identify the characteristics of children's engagement with tangible narrative and their interactions with parents, which were then incorporated into a design workshop (N = 12) to develop an interactive product comprising tangible elements and an accompanying app. With the produced outcomes, we conducted a comparative experiment (N = 24 pairs) in a home setting to verify and explore the role of tangible narrative in child–parent mealtime interaction. Finally, we formulated design guidelines for a tangible narrative that can serve as a reference to assist in creating more impactful products that foster positive behavioral growth in children.