Qilin in Motion

Aiming at the insufficient spread and low participation of intangible cultural heritage among children, this design takes Dongguan Qilin Dance as the research object to explore its innovative transformation into children’s toys.Based on design thinking, we complete user research and cultural element extraction, simplify and restructure the shape, colors and symbolic meanings of Qilin, and develop a modular assembly toy. Kids can learn relevant structure and cultural connotations via hands-on assembling.This work deeply integrates heritage features with assembling toys, adopting simplified joinery to improve interactivity while balancing education and fun. It turns children from passive cultural viewers into active participants, offering a new design approach for the revitalization of intangible cultural heritage.