# Tinker Tales: A Tangible Dialogue System for Child-AI Co-Creative Storytelling

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.04109 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.04109/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 9 of its 49 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Feb 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [Co-Writing with Opinionated Language Models Affects Users' Views](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00560/) (2023)
- [StoryBuddy: A Human-AI Collaborative Chatbot for Parent-Child Interactive Storytelling with Flexible Parental Involvement](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.06205/) (2022)
- [Controllable Mixed-Initiative Dialogue Generation through Prompting](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.04147/) (2023)
- [Prototypical Human-AI Collaboration Behaviors from LLM-Assisted Writing in the Wild](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.16023/) (2025)
- [Understanding User Perceptions, Collaborative Experience and User Engagement in Different Human-AI Interaction Designs for Co-Creative Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.13217/) (2022)
- [Exploring Parent's Needs for Children-Centered AI to Support Preschoolers' Interactive Storytelling and Reading Activities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.13804/) (2024)
- [Characterizing LLM-Empowered Personalized Story-Reading and Interaction for Children: Insights from Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.00590/) (2025)
- [An Exploratory Study on How AI Awareness Impacts Human-AI Design Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.16833/) (2025)
- [Tinker Tales: Interactive Storytelling Framework for Early Childhood Narrative Development and AI Literacy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13969/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Conversational AI agents are increasingly explored as creative partners, yet how conversation design shapes child-AI dialogue in co-creative settings remains underexplored. We present Tinker Tales, a tangible dialogue system for child-AI collaborative storytelling, in which educational frameworks (narrative development and social-emotional learning) are instantiated as conversation design, shaping how the agent engages children across four narrative stages. The system combines a physical storytelling board, NFC-embedded toys, and a mobile app mediating multimodal interaction through tangible manipulation and voice-based dialogue. We conducted a home-based user study with 10 children (ages 6-8) across two conversation design conditions varying in how the agent structured elaboration, with and without educational scaffolding. Our findings show that prompt framing shapes the form and consistency of children's narrative contributions, structuring how they participate in co-creative dialogue with AI.