"Playing with" museum exhibits

In this paper, we describe two educational games mediated by mobile technology which were designed for use in the context of a traditional historical museum by young children. Our analysis focuses on the principles of the educational design, on the use of mobile technology and on the envisaged interaction between the exhibits and the children. The main argument of the paper is that mobile technology can support the play with the exhibits of a museum -instead of just viewing them in the more traditional way--and in this context the spectrum of children interaction with the exhibits can be broadened and enriched.