Playful activities in children with physical impairment. The use of mainstream robotic toys to support play

In the Italian project GioDi (Play for Disability), mainstream robotic toys were used with children with severe physical impairment (PI), to verify whether robots could support playful activities.Play is a voluntary, intrinsically motivated activity associated with recreational pleasure and enjoyment (Garvey, 1990); it is a child’s right (ONU, 1989) and it is considered as the main sup- port for physical, cognitive and social development (Piaget, 1945/1972; Vygotskij, 1976). Each play situation can be described according to the Playfulness construct, i.e. the disposition to play (Barnett, 1991): a dimension that allows to distinguish between play and play-like activities (Visalberghi, 1958), in which play is used as a mean to reach other purposes such as learning or developing abilities.