Figure 1. The Curious Cycles kit: (a) The poster, (b) the curious eye, (c) the blood bank, (d) prompts, (e) the reflection, (f) the heat pad, (g) the zine.

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Menarche is the first occurrence of menstrual bleeding and it usually begins between the ages of 9-15. This makes menarche a crucial transition among other social, physiological and behavioural changes during puberty. In this soma-based research-through-design project we design an open-ended prototyping kit: Menarche Bits. The aim of Menarche Bits is to open a design space for young adolescents to create body-worn technologies that support them in making space for their experiences of menarche and trusting their menstruating bodies. Menarche Bits consists of heat elements and shapechanging actuators that can be worn directly on the body by adhering to the skin or being inserted into pockets in a stretchable fabric as part of a garment. We describe the soma design process behind Menarche Bits as an example of how body-worn technologies can intimately interact with the body and its movement, temporality and material changes.

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