Ideas for preschool project

Below are a few of my ideas for a project to implement at a preschool to aid the awareness of the children during daily activities like going to the bathroom, sitting still and washing your hands. I have pictures of rough sketches for most but not all of my ideas.

1: Bathroom lock

I was told that some children have trouble remembering to flush the toilet. To help correct this, I thought of putting a mechanism on the lock of the stall that forces the children to be mindful of whether or not they flushed. There would be a panel asking the child if he or she had flushed, and two buttons corresponding to yes and no. If the child selects yes, the bar that would be blocking the lock from being slid into the unlocked position would be raised using a gear and the child would be free to leave the stall. If the child selects no, this might trigger some sort of LED light reminding him or her to flush.

Potential problems: Child could get locked in the stall if he/she doesn't understand how to press yes. Child could learn to press yes without flushing. Time consuming machine.

2: Mats with ultrasonic sensor

I was also informed that children have trouble staying on their mats or carpet squares when they are supposed to. This then requires teachers to be constantly reminding them, which is tedious and frustrating. Instead, I thought giving them another response to pay attention to other than their teaher might be an easier way for the children to be aware of when they are getting up when they're not supposed to. For example, an LED light could go on. This way the teachers would only have to explain to the children to pay attention to their lights rather than repeatedly remind them to stay seated. An ultrasonic sensor could be attached to the mats somehow, or even multiple. This way, when the number goes past a certain specification, indicating that the child has moved too far away, a light is triggered to go on, reminding them to stay seated.

Potential Problems: The sensor could be too far that it detects other things, or too close that the readings are inaccurate. If the sensor is too visible it could be tempting to play with, but it can't be too hidden for the purpose of readings.

3: Mats with touch switches

Similar to the idea above, this idea is for an LED to go on after something has indicated that the child has moved too far from his/her mat. In this case, an array of touch switches would be spread out on the mat, underneath an added top layer of fabric. When the child sits, he or she will be pressing down on the touch switches. So, we can say that if maybe less than four of the touch switches are pressed, the child has moved too far from his or her mat and the light will turn on. 

Potential problems: Children often fidget or move, which could trigger the light accidentally. touch switches could break from the weight or constant state of being pressed; might be hard to fix or replace.

4: Faucet countdown

This idea is my least developed, but I was interested in some of the issues regarding the bathroom and this seemed like something that has potential. I was told that the children have trouble washing their hands for an appropriate amount of time, usually just rinsing and leaving. I thought there might be a way to attach something to the faucet handles that initiates a countdown out loud or visually (or both) that would indicate to the children for how long they should wash their hands. There could also be reminders about soap. I'm not sure exactly how I would go about developing this idea into something feasible, but it's just a thought to hold onto.