Internship as a child

Engaging in an 'internship as a child' means spending time with children in their natural surroundings and being a part of their everyday lives. The experience can open up for a new understanding of children and their way of living. 

The internship is turning the 'participatory design approach' on its head by inviting the designer into the life of a child instead of inviting the child into the process of the designer. This is a valuable approach to adopt early in the process even before the specific development process begins, in order to confront existing assumptions about children and as a way to experience and identify new potential opportunities. The recommendation is:

Just do it - even though it can be frightening to enter into someone's private life; but if it is done respectfully, with openness and curiosity it can be a joyful, surprising and rewarding experience for both child and designer.

An 'Internship as a child' is a way to understand the needs and experiences in the contexts of the everyday lives of children (Gunn, Otto, & Smith, 2013). Approaching the internship with an open mind without any predefined agendas can be a way to identify new design opportunities grounded in and with relevance for the everyday lives of children.

Before entering a design process, a group of designers took part in Internships as a Child by visiting children in their homes. The children hosted the visits while the designers experienced everyday life from within the child's own context and perspective. The experience gave the designers a deeper understanding of children's needs and inspired new directions for the design process.