Digitally augmented toys and games are traditional toys or game pieces 
equipped with sensing technology, computing power and communication 
capabilities. This allows designers to incorporate novel virtual elements 
previously only available in video games without compromising the tangible and 
social benefits of traditional play objects. Through this digital 
augmentation, play environments have the potential to support users by 
providing them with context-aware information and services and thus to enrich 
play experiences and facilitate playful learning. While play environments can 
benefit from the seamless merging of the virtual and the physical world via 
such technologies, designing and implementing augmented play environments can 
be rather onerous. In recent years, research on utilizing pervasive computing 
technologies for games and toys has focused on demonstrating what is 
technologically possible. However, this has typically fallen short of 
addressing the question of how to actually design augmented play objects and 
environments. Designers will not only be challenged by the integration of 
technology into traditional play environments, but also by the typically 
involved complexity and idiosyncrasies of the particular play scenario at 
hand. As a result, they must design and implement an infrastructure that will 
support a variety of potential play objects which inhabit the particular 
environment. Additionally, the users - many of whom are children - must be 
provided with adequate interfaces that empower them to configure and adapt the 
augmented play environment according to their personal preferences and 
requirements. This thesis addresses these challenges by examining different 
play scenarios and investigating how pervasive computing technologies can be 
used to support players, create more immersive environments and facilitate 
playful learning. The goal is to provide a framework to help system developers 
design and implement augmented play environments. To this end, both a process 
model and a set of design guidelines are proposed for two very contrasting 
types of play environments: toys and games. While the former category is 
characterized by a high degree of freedom, the latter one is determined by 
detailed and specific criteria (i.e., rules). Given these opposite categories, 
pervasive computing technologies can thus contribute in several ways: in the 
case of augmented game environments, the focus is on supporting players by 
providing them with context-aware information and relieving them of mundane 
tasks; augmented toy environments in comparison benefit from virtual content 
that can be added to embellish children's stories and to convey educational 
content in a playful way. The main contributions of this thesis are fourfold: 
First, we establish the theoretical groundwork for the digital augmentation of 
traditional play environments. For that, we analyze the vast field of existing 
forms of play, identifying games and toys as the two most distinct and 
interesting categories and elaborate on how pervasive computing technologies 
can be utilized to enrich traditional play environments. Second, the process 
of digitally augmenting play environments is described. The initial part of 
the process consists of a two-step analysis, a large extent of which focuses 
on technical challenges developers have to cope with. As a result, we propose 
a set of design guidelines that can significantly contribute to the success of 
the digital augmentation process. Subsequently, we present two prototypes - 
an augmented game environment and an augmented toy environment, to illustrate 
the practical application of the theoretical framework and demonstrate its 
feasibility. In concluding discussions we investigate the success of the 
digital augmentation of each play environment. Finally, we present the results 
of a user study we conducted to test the augmented toy environment. The goal 
was to assess our implementation in terms of technical requirements. 
Additionally, this user study gives insights into how children actually 
perceive such an environment as well as how suitable it is for storytelling 
and playful learning.