Towards a Framework of Playfulness in the Museum: Visitors, Interactive Exhibits, and Playful Experiences

In museums, playfulness enriches engagement, and contributes to visitor wellbeing and repeat visits. However, there is a lack of systematic exploration into the broader structures and common characteristics of playfulness in museums. Understanding this is important for designing better exhibits and creating meaningful visitor experience. Focusing on playful interactions between visitors and digital exhibits, this research aims to develop the first framework of ‘playfulness’ in the museum context. It explores playfulness from three perspectives: as a personality trait; as a mindful state of engagement; and as a design affordance of exhibits. Using mixed methods, the study collected 239 visitor responses and conducted expert interviews at two museums in the UK and China, focusing on five digital exhibits. Finally, 17 common characteristics of playfulness are identified within the museum context. The framework will offer guidance for playful experience design for more cultural institutions.