I’ve played an insane amount of Candy Land with my nieces while on vacation. They get an endless amount of joy from choosing a card and cruising along the colored path in hopes of reaching King Candy before everyone else.
Simultaneously, I’ve been watching the news out of Gaza and the Ukraine, researching climate change, and reading John Lewis’s story about his dedication to the Civil Rights Movement. And I am afraid for my nieces and the world we are leaving them; Candy Land it is not. How do we teach compassion, empathy, and cooperation, the qualities we need in spades, in a world that sometimes seems devoid of them? The answer – we make a game out of it.
One of my new projects is a game that highlights the value of these qualities through a series of stories, challenges, and choices based on current real-world situations. I’m now doing a lot of research and working on the design of a prototype. Want to take a peek and provide feedback when it’s ready? Let me know. With the complex world we’re leaving to our kids, candy isn’t going to cut it.
Christa Avampato 