DIFFERENT ECONOMIC THINKING FOR KIDS: BEYOND GROWTH
PROJECT PRINT & PLAY
Services
Project lead
Experience Design
OUR AMBITION.
We aim to use design, gameplay, storytelling, and media to inspire young people to reflect on the values of doughnut economics and how these connect to their own lives.
While many experiences today reinforce outdated economic ideals of continuous financial growth, we strive to create a space that promotes balance: a safe and just space where humanity thrives within the social boundaries (ensuring everyone has access to life’s essentials) and the planetary boundaries (protecting Earth’s life-supporting systems).
How can we help kids explore and discover their values in relation to the twelve social foundations and nine ecological ceilings of doughnut economics? How can we encourage them to rethink topics like consumption, property, money, happiness, community, health, wellbeing, and nature—through an experience that is fun, engaging, and playful rather than feeling like another mandatory school lesson?
OUR GOAL
Our goal is to design a transmedia storytelling experience that blends interactive design (IX) with engaging narratives, where kids play for fun while exploring deeper themes.
We envision an immersive storyworld that spans online and off-screen channels, offering kids exciting, coming-of-age narratives that challenge them to actively participate and explore. Through play and discovery, they will encounter values aligned with doughnut economics in a way that feels natural, playful, and engaging. By prioritising indirect learning, the experience will subtly introduce concepts of social and ecological well-being, sparking curiosity and reflection without ever losing sight of the joy of play.
THE TEAM
Megan Chan
&ranj
Game Design
Wouter Krijger
&ranj
Game Design
Anne Griet Brader
Hanze Hogeschool
Initiatior
Joost Raessens
Horizon Europe
Project Advisor
Rob Shorter
DEAL
Subject matter expert
Noemie Métais
Climate Fresk
Advisor
Research tool CONCEPT:
PRINT & PLAY DOUGHNUT GAME
Together with &ranj we are developing a print & play game to gather essential insights for creating effective narrative interventions, while simultaneously raising awareness among children about the values of doughnut economics.
The game provides a playful and engaging experience for participants, with the choices they make generating valuable data for our research.
Designed for large-scale use, the game can be easily printed and facilitated by anyone. It includes a comprehensive facilitator guide with clear instructions on how to run the game, collect insights, and upload the data to an open-source database, making the findings accessible and useful for others.
What do we want to learn through this tool?
The Dive-in-Doughnut Print & Play is designed to gather valuable insights that can be collected and stored in an open-source database.
Doughnut Economics designers, activists (like ourselves), or policy-makers can access and use this information in later stages to design products, events, experiences, or policies with or for kids. Therefore, the Dive-in Doughnut Print & Play aims to gather insights on the following topics:
- The most interesting age group to develop a transmedia storytelling IX design for.
- The target audience’s current understanding of the social and ecological topics relevant to the Doughnut Economics.
- The possibilities of creative knowledge transfer. How do kids like to learn?
- The challenges of their environment (eco-system). How does the environment of kids generally influence their values and behaviour when it comes to these topics? Think of parents, teachers, or online influencers. What piques the interest of kids? What stories capture their attention? What excites them? What makes a story engaging to them?
What we did before
On November 13th, 2023, the world celebrated International Doughnut Day with events and activities across the globe, including a flagship gathering hosted by the Amsterdam Donut Coalitie at Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
To honour this day, we organised two creative workshops with groups of children aged 10–12 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Kilifi, Kenya. Focusing on the future, we challenged the kids to design a new world through the lens of three key themes: health, exchange, and nature.
Through creating, designing, and lively discussions, the children explored concepts such as physical and mental health, community, sharing, money, ownership, and the role of nature.
We presented the results in Pakhuis de Zwijger.
We received seed funding to develop the print-and-play version of the game.
Work cases
We see every challenge like a collaboration. Your story. Our strategy.
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