wooden toy | Nsillsportfolio

Wooden Toy Project

Fall 2024

The task

Create a wooden toy that is targeted at a develomental goal

1

research

pt.1
interviews

all depictions of interviewees are stock photos to maintain their privacy

I interviewed 3 different kids to get to know my target audience. There were a few jumping off points for our conversations like:

What's your favorite/ least favorite toy? Why?

What kind of games do you play with this toy?

Does this stuffed animal/doll/etc. have a name? What is their story?

Esme, 4

August, 1o

Lily, 7

Favs:

stubby unicorns that all go into a bigger unicorn with a zipper pocket
"stuffies" are based around "Never Ending Story" Movie
wooden trains- one has a motor and can pull other trains around

Least Fav:

squishy cat you can pull and make weird bubbles with "It’s boring but a little funny"

"I mostly play video games now."

Likes:

Roblox
Fortnite
Minecraft

Fav IRL toy: Hot Wheels, plays with them using the surrounding enviorment rather than tracks

Favs:

Soap-making set
Large doll with hair to do different things with- cut, style, etc.
Legos
Minecraft

Least Fav:

Alligator puzzle

Over the these interviews, it grew apparent there was a lack of imaginative play. When I asked the kids about the backstories of certain toys or what games they played with others, the play was surprsingly surface- level.

I wanted to know if this was just a comonality between the kids I interviewed or if this was a peek into a larger trend

Speaking with parents

"We like jelly cat and Melissa and Doug toys, we try to find them used on facebook marketplace"

"I like finding toys Esme, Aubrey (mom), and I can play with together"

"The kids tell me exactly what they want, I don't ever look around..."

Warner, 35

Peter, 58

reseach pt.2

Are Today's Youth Less Creative & Imaginative?

LiveScience

Researcher Kyung Hee Kim, in a 2010 study, analyzed creativity tess from the 1970's onward and found that especially from 1990 to today, creativity amoungst children has decreased
Education psychologist Ron Beghetto says that it is likely school curriculums that are contributing and that children could be getting more creative in their play

The decline of American playtime — and how to resurrect it

Vox

A combination of parental anxieties and societal changes have greatly decreased children's freedom and playtime, especially unstructured playtime

I believe there to be a connection between decreasing unstructured playtime and decreasing imagination and creativity

Ideation

I landed on a concept of a spaceship toy with an alien character made to sit inside

I drew inspiration from how August plays with his hotwheels in the way I imagined this toy would be used

The ufo is a familiar concept, a jumping-off point, but has a million possibilities

Moodboard

Though the kid is my true target audience, I wanted to target the parent in the aesthetic of the toy. I am aiming for something adjacent to retro futurism