Exploring children’s meaning-making as they interact with digital artworks through play at a museum exhibition

Many museums have begun to integrate digital technologies as a way of providing opportunities for children to play, explore, and make meaning of artworks. However, little is known about the specific ways children interact with digital artworks in museum spaces. This paper presents findings from a study that explored young children’s interactions with digital artworks at the Beings by Universal Everything exhibition, held at ACMI (formerly known as the Australian Centre for the Moving Image) in Melbourne, Victoria. Data was collected from 22 Years one and two children, aged 6–8 years, from a primary school located in regional Victoria. Qualitative data were generated from video recordings of children’s verbal and non-verbal interactions as they engaged with the digital artworks, researcher observations, and focus groups with the children after the exhibition. Transcripts of children's interactions were deductively coded for pretend play abilities and play elements. Three main themes were identified in relation to the contexts in which the children interacted with the artworks: (1) as individuals, (2) with their peers about the artwork, and (3) as characters within the artwork. Findings showed the different play elements and pretend play abilities evident as the children interacted with the selected artworks. The findings highlight the unique ways to observe, document and analyse children’s interactions and meaning making as they participate in museum spaces, and adds insights into the growing body of research around the affordances of digital museum spaces in fostering children’s learning through play, particularly pretend play.