Abstract
How can children develop a healthy level of bodyawareness and social sensitivity in a technologymediated life full of computers and digital devices? With WORM-E, an interactive soft toy for children, we explore haptic sensations and invite for enhanced bodily and social play experiences through pausing the smartphone usage. To realize the WORM-E prototype, we used e-textile techniques and technologies, including a microcontroller for controlling actuators and NFC (Near Field Communication) tags for communication with a smartphone app. Our project contributes a design exemplar on how the future of play could look like when body movements and haptic material qualities of tangible artefacts are combined with interactions through digital technologies.