Play Before Pixels Workshop Kit

How to make a bin of supplies for a rapid VR and AR concept prototyping workshop.

This kit building guide is in support of the Play Before Pixels workshop that I facilitate for makers, creators, developers, designers, and planners. In other words, it’s for anyone and everyone. The kit contains modeling clay, LEGO® bricks, paper, and other items to run an effective rapid virtual and augmented reality concept prototyping workshop. One kit can support a group of 4–5 people, which is also the recommended size per group when facilitating a larger workshop.

In the workshop, I explain why play is important to innovation, and teach participants how to sketch ideas on concept sheets and storyboard them before opening up the hands-on kit described below.

“I think it really opened up our minds from the get-go, and broke down the sometimes overly serious discussions we have about things that should be fun, fluid and valuable.” — Play Before Pixels Participant

Example Rapid VR and AR Prototyping Kit

How to Make 1 Rapid Prototyping Kit

This is the “too long didn’t read” version if you just want to go ahead and make one kit for yourself and your team. Continue reading for an explanation for each item, along with tweaks to the kit list for how to make multiple kits.

TLDR Single Rapid Prototyping Kit

• 1 x Plastic Bin with Lid (14" L x 11" W x 3 ¼" H)
• 1 x 1 lb Plastilina Modeling Clay
• 1 x LEGO Classic Creative Supplement ** See LEGO notes below **
• 1 x 3/16" Hole Punch
• 1 x Scissors
• 1 x Blank Index Cards (1 pack of 100)
• 4 x 12-Pack Sticky Notes (or one per person)
• 1 x Large Sticky Dots
• 1 x Mini Sticky Dots
• 1 x White Washi Paper Tape
• 1 x Colorful Washi Paper Tape Pack
• 1 x 12-Pack Box of Paper Mate Black Pens (or one per person)
• 1 x 8-Pack Colorful set of BIC Velocity Ballpoint Pens
• 1 x Smart Phone Holder
• Small Stack of Tabloid 11"x17" Size Paper (to create backdrops)
• Medium Stack of Letter 8.5"x11" Size Paper (to create ground & for printing)

Print These For Your Kit

Print out a stack of concept sketch sheets (.pdf) and a LEGO hole punch guide (.pdf).

• Learn how to use the concept sketch sheets.
• Learn how to use the hole punch to combine paper and LEGO bricks.

How to Make Kits in Multiples of 4

The expanded shopping list below is for making 4 kits to run a larger workshop with 16–20 people, split into groups of 4–5. Keep multiplying for even larger workshops! There’s also an excessive amount of detail about what to include in your kit, to help you make your own tweaks.

Bins

You can create single bins or get the stackable bins if you want to carry more than one with a handle on top. Make sure to get bins that can hold letter size paper inside. Using bins means you can easily grab one to take to a room for a workshop, and clean everything back up into the bin when you’re done.

On my improvement list is to find small plastic bins that can be inserted inside the bins to hold the clay.

• 4 x Plastic Bins (14" L x 11" W x 3 ¼" H) (Comes in 2-packs or 6-packs)
• OR 2 x Double Height Bins (14⅜" L x 10¾" W x 7⅝" H).

Clay

Modeling clay does not dry out if left out (unlike Playdoh). It comes in different colors, but I recommend sticking with the white color to avoid distractions from color. If you get the large cost-effective block of modeling clay, I highly recommend getting a clay wire cutter to make it easier to split up into manageable chunks. Without a clay wire cutter, I have managed to use a closed pair of scissors to cut away pieces of clay.

• 1 x 5lb White Plastilina Modeling Clay (Split into 4 equal parts)
• 1 x Clay Wire Cutter (for splitting clay, do not include in bins)

LEGO® Bricks

My original Clay and Play rapid prototyping kit contains the LEGO Architecture Studio set of all white bricks. I liked the all white bricks because then you aren’t distracted by trying to find matching colors and instead can focus on making structures and props and only adding an accent color when you want to draw attention.

LEGO bricks are a great for getting people into the play mindset, and to rapidly build rigid structures or add props to communicate their concept. LEGO bricks can also be combined with paper using a 3/16" size hole punch to quickly prop up additional scenery or interfaces.

As an alternative to the retired all-white Architecture Studio set, I recommend the Classic Creative Supplement box. It focuses on the basic bricks in a restrained amount of colors, and includes some bricks that let you change the direction of the studs. However, it does not include transparent LEGO bricks which are useful for defying physics to show elements floating in air.

Transparent LEGO bricks can make interfaces look like they are floating. These are hard to find in large enough quantities in regular LEGO sets, that I recommend going to Amazon to search for them.

To change direction of LEGO studs, 1x1 bricks with 4 knobs are very handy. These are also hard to find in large quantities in regular LEGO sets, but you can buy them from the Pick a Brick website.

• 2 x LEGO Classic Creative Supplement (split into 4 bins)
• 1x 200 Pack of Translucent 1x2 LEGO bricks (split into 4 bins)
• 40 x White 1x1 LEGO bricks with 4 knobs (to change knob direction). Order from the Pick a Brick LEGO website (Element ID: 4111971)

I’ve noticed that the LEGO wheels are often a great shortcut for particular concepts. Given this, here are some other LEGO kits to consider in addition to the Classic Creative Supplement when creating many bins:

• 1 x LEGO Classic Bricks and Gears
• 1 x LEGO Classic Bricks on a Roll

Punching & Cutting

There’s a technique to combine LEGO bricks and paper that I recommend for for rapid building of scenery and props for VR and AR concepts. For that you’ll need a LEGO sized hole punch — research shows that the 3/16" size hole punch will do the job.

• 4 x 3/16" Hole Punch (for LEGO stud sized holes)
• 4 x Scissors (cheaper as a 2-pack)
• 1 x 10-Pack LEGO Hole Punch Guide (pdf — print at 100% scale and cut)

Index Cards

Sturdy card stock is best for mocking up concepts. I use index cards because they are typically found in standard office supply cabinets.

• 1 x Multi-Pack of Blank Index Cards (10 packs of 100 will last you a while)

Sticky Notes & Dots

Sticky notes and dots are always handy to have in any ideation kit for people to jot down notes and add dots to vote on concepts or bring attention to elements. I recommend the Chromalabel brand sticky dots — they come in lots of color options and are easy to cut into little sheets of dots to hand out.

• 2 x 12-Pack Sticky Notes (or enough for all people)
• 1 x Mini Sticky Dots
• 1 x Large Sticky Dots

Washi Paper Tape

Washi paper tape is a decorative tape that is easier to work with than regular clear scotch tape. You can easily rip it with your hands, and use the colored tape to add accents and highlights to your prototype.

• 4 x White Washi Paper Tape
• 1 x Colorful Washi Paper Tape Pack (split randomly between bins)

Pens

Use pens that show up clearly but don’t bleed through paper. These are my favorites, you can substitute your own.

• 2 x 12-Pack Box of Paper Mate Black Pens (or enough for all people)
• 2 x 8-Pack Colorful set of BIC Velocity Ballpoint Pens (split randomly between bins)

Sticks

Sticks are useful for connecting things. I’m still experimenting with what is best to include in a kit. Pipe cleaners are bendable so they’re more versatile than straight sticks. However, pipe cleaners will shed fuzzies into your clay, so if you’re concerned about keeping pristine modeling clay then you may want to avoid pipe cleaners.*

• 1 x Pipe Cleaners (split between 4 bins)
• OR 1 x Popsicle Sticks (split between 4 bins)
• OR 1 x Bamboo Skewers (split between 4 bins)
• OR 1 x Dry Spaghetti (split between 4 bins)

*Spoiler: Your clay will get dirty anyways, it’s just inevitable.

**Yes, dry spaghetti really has been used in clay VR workshops.

Smart Phone Holder

These handy holders come in many shapes and forms, and are a cheap way to get help capturing concepts. Seriously one of the cheapest and best tools for helping you document your VR and AR concepts (and make YouTube videos).

• 4 x Smart Phone Holder

Paper

This may not seem very important at first, but having a clean backdrop really helps with photo and video capture because it removes all clutter from the background that can distract from communicating your concept. It also gives a place to sketch out backgrounds or walls.

• 1 ream of 11x17" tabloid size printer paper (to create backdrops)
• 1 ream of 8.5x112" letter size printer paper (to create ground and print)

Comparison: Concept with clean white backdrop versus distracting messy background.

Don’t Forget to Print Concept Sketch Sheets!

Print out a stack of concept sketch sheets (.pdf) and learn how to use the them before the workshop. This is part of what I teach during the Play Before Pixels workshop, building up from sketch sheets to storyboard and then getting hands on with the modeling clay, LEGO bricks, and paper.

“Going from the sketch to the clay model helps you realize all the key objects and interactions you need for your concept. This means you have a better plan before starting up a digital tool such as Unity for your first digital prototype.” — Play Before Pixels Participant

Clay figure waving in front of white paper backdrop

That’s All!

Thanks for reading! I know it’s a lot of information to take in, but it’s so rewarding when you implement your own rapid VR and AR prototyping kit!