01.Context

The prompt was about barriers in education. We went outside.

A one-day designathon on connection-centred design, and a question broad enough to go almost anywhere.

The brief asked how we might design exciting and inclusive learning experiences that reduce barriers for children in education. The theme was connection: solutions that help people build real relationships and share experiences rather than just consume something alone.

We had until 10:30 to lock an idea, slides due by 3:30, and presentations after that. Eight hours total.

02.Research

Canadian kids are barely going outside

We looked for the barrier with the most evidence behind it, and outdoor play turned out to be badly under-measured in the classroom conversation.

The health research attached real consequences to that number: higher rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes, lower bone mineral density, and a documented rise in childhood anxiety and depression linked to spending life on a screen instead of in a three-dimensional world.

03.Problem

Three kinds of kid, one shared exclusion

We wrote four personas. Three of them were locked out of the same lesson for completely different reasons.

Zara is nine, creative, and zones out during long classes. Linh is ten and recently arrived from Vietnam, so reading-heavy material leaves her behind before the lesson starts. Ayaan is eight and autistic, and a loud crowded classroom overwhelms him before he can focus on anything.

Different kids, same result. A desk-based, text-heavy, indoor lesson excludes all three. That framing is what pushed us outside rather than toward a better worksheet.

04.Ideation

Six ideas that were all another screen

Everything we put on the board kept kids indoors looking at a device. The one we picked was the only one that didn't.

The board filled up with screens. A quiz app. An engaging learning platform. A game-based lesson tool. Something for overstimulation, something for classroom anxiety, a Minecraft world that prompts kids to build things. Six ideas, all of them another reason to look at a tablet.

Then someone wrote down "kids don't go outside," which was the only line on the board that pointed away from the screen. Given a brief about real connection, we took it.

The mechanic came together fast once we had that. A teacher sets a challenge for the day and can split the class into groups. A group finds something that matches, photographs it, and submits it through the app. They earn XP and badges for what they find. Every piece of that was on the whiteboard before 10:30, and the rest of the day was working out what it would take to make it safe.

05.Solution

A scavenger hunt that teaches while you play it

GreenBuddies turns outdoor time into a photo quest. Kids find things in nature, photograph them, and every accepted find becomes a learning card.

06.Design Decisions

Designing for children changes what you're allowed to build

A mentor session halfway through forced us to treat safety as a design constraint rather than a feature we'd add later.

07.Reflection and Next Steps

What I'd take further

Eight hours is enough to make a good decision and not enough to find out if it was right.

The safety conversation improved the product. That surprised me. Cutting GPS felt like losing a feature and it forced us toward image recognition, which turned out to be more fun than a map would have been. Constraints did the design work.

We designed for three kids and tested with none. Zara, Linh and Ayaan came out of research, not interviews. I stand behind the reasoning, but the next version starts with watching actual eight-year-olds try to use it, because children break interfaces in ways adults never predict.

The open question is whether teachers would run it. Every good thing about GreenBuddies depends on a teacher setting a quest, taking a class outside, and reviewing photos afterward. Ms. Rivera was our fourth persona and the one we designed for least.