Building an interactive coloring world with Swiss trains and my 4 year old nephew 🎨🇨🇭🚂

A month ago I went to visit my sister and her soon-to-be 4 year old in the middle of Germany. I didn’t expect that the visit would not only give me a peek into a toddler’s world; it was also a journey of discovery through the fascinating realm of the Swiss railway system.

Building worlds is the most fun part of our start-up Dibulo and we have enough ideas for what we could do for at least the next 5 years. However, we also want to create something for kids and not just what our own inner children think is cool (I like dinosaurs!). Inspiration hits from the most unexpected places and when my nephew bombarded me with his toy collection, I saw this as an opportunity to tap into my nephew’s mind for a new interactive coloring world.

While my nephew rolled in his 3 big boxes filled with all kinds of trains, rail tracks and cars, I questioned what exactly it is he likes and is fascinated about. Obviously you can’t just ask a toddler and conduct an adult-like user interview. So I sat down with a small sheet of paper and a pen to take visual notes and simply started to observe him like a weird uncle. Amidst the toy parade, trains emerged as the clear favorite — at least for that moment.

Fortunately he was very pro active in helping me out and the babbling I didn’t understand got translated by his mom. He told me about all kinds of things my sketch should include. Of course there had to be a train, but also a parking garage, some trees and animals and for whatever reason a trophy — which he didn’t recognize as one, but as a mug. Sorry for my bad drawing skills. He was also persisting on having signals, like a stop sign or traffic lights. After half an hour playing together it got late and it was nap time and he also went to bed.

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