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?
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What kind of games do you play with this toy?
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Does this stuffed animal/doll/etc. have a name? What is their story?
Esme, 4
August, 1o
Lily, 7
Favs:
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stubby unicorns that all go into a bigger unicorn with a zipper pocket
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"stuffies" are based around "Never Ending Story" Movie
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wooden trains- one has a motor and can pull other trains around
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Least Fav:
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squishy cat you can pull and make weird bubbles with "It’s boring but a little funny"
"I mostly play video games now."
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Likes:
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Roblox
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Fortnite
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Minecraft
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Fav IRL toy: Hot Wheels, plays with them using the surrounding enviorment rather than tracks
Favs:
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​Soap-making set
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Large doll with hair to do different things with- cut, style, etc.
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Legos
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Minecraft
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Least Fav:
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​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 coomonality 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"
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"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
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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
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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
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A combination of parental anxieties and societal changes have greatly decreased children's freedom and playtime, especially unstructured playtime
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I believe there to be a connection between decreasing unstructured playtime and decreasing imagination and creativity
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Ideation
I landed on a concept of a spaceship toy with an alien character made to sit inside
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I drew inspiration from how August plays with his hotwheels in the way I imagined this toy would be used
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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
final concept
models
Cad
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3d print
CNC
Final Render
