Pre-Major Project
Oliver Blythe 3139580
Table of Contents
Chapter 1:
Introduction Chapter 2: Background Research i) How are disabilities identified in Children? ii) Stages of Development in Children iii) Existing Toys/Solutions Chapter 3: Approach/Methodologies i) Market Research ii) Interviews iii) Case Studies Chapter 4: Conclusion
Chapter One:
Introduction
What is it about toys that help children to develop skills that are necessary for later on in life? And how can these aspects be harnessed to increase the benefits gained? These are all crucial questions and ideas for developing a toy that stimulates growth and development in children.
Scope of The Project
There are countless disabilities that a child can have/that a child can develop. A basic list of some of them is:
Toys, and the playing that is generated by interaction with the toys, are an important part of a child’s development. Motor skill development, vocabulary growth, flexibility and sharpening of senses are some of the benefits to be gained by playing with toys. Play can also help to develop social skills as it can encourage interaction amongst children while they are using the toy/game. It is therefore really important to have toys that are available for all kids, to help all kids develop these crucial skills, no matter whether they have some form of disability or not. Therefore this project focuses mainly on the development aspect of toys, looking at the way that toys help kids to develop in the ways listed above (i.e. physically, socially and mentally).
• • • • • • • •
Intellectual disability Physical disability Sensory disability Acquired brain injury Neurological impairment Dual disability (one of the above and a psychiatric disability) Disabilities that are unrelated to ageing Any combination of these.
Because there are so many disabilities that children can have, and that can therefore be aimed at designing for, it is important to lay out the scope for this project, otherwise it can end up trying to take on too much and wind up achieving nothing. Therefore this project will be aimed at mental and ‘development’ disabilities, rather than more physical disabilities. The aim is to develop a toy that helps to stimulate development in children, both
disabled and not disabled. To achieve the ‘double level’ of use it will be used at different ages by different children. Where one child might use the toy at 4 another might use it at 7. This therefore raises another question; what age group is the toy targeted at? A very broad answer is that it is aimed at approximately 4-5 years of age. But rather than being aimed at a specific age group, it will instead be aimed to help develop the skills that a typical child would develop at that age, and can therefore be used at any age by any child, either before the ‘recommended’ age or after it.
Why are Toys crucial?
It is very important to make sure that toys are accessible for all children, as playing and having fun with toys is such a crucial stage in a child’s development. (**REFERENCE**) As mentioned earlier, playing with toys builds social skills, with the interaction between the user and other children or between the user and their parents, as well helping to develop gross motor skills, such as hand-eye coordination, and can even help build basic problem solving skills. These things are all crucial to develop in children, and all children should be given the chance/ ability to access this vital ‘resource.’ Therefore it is very important that there are toys that are suitable for all children, whether they have a disability or not. It is also important to develop a child’s imagination early on as imagination can help to develop critical thinking abilities, which are important later on in life. It also helps to develop the ability to consider whether something is possible or not, which is an important thing later on in life when planning and creating things. Therefore it is important to make sure that play involves imagination as well.
Initial Mind Mapping
There are two sides to the design side of this project. The first is the need side (which has been briefly addressed above,
and will be elaborated on ion later chapters). The second aspect is the element of fun. All toys need to be fun. Toys need to engage children, capturing their imagination and drawing them in, otherwise they wont play with the toy, and it will therefore be useless. (QUOTE/REFERENCE??) This (obviously) doesn’t mean that the toy has to be engaging or fun, and to a certain extent it doesn’t even have to be appealing, to an adult. An example of this would be cardboard boxes: cardboard boxes aren’t interesting to, and don’t appeal
to, adults, yet to children they can be a ‘toy’ that generates hours of play, stimulating their imaginations and keeping them entertained for hours. But it is crucial that, even if it is not fun or interesting for adults, it is fun for children. A toy could be the most technically well-designed educational toy, having all the aspects that help to teach children, and yet still be a failure if it isn’t fun. Therefore the element of fun is a key aspect, and has to be carefully considered throughout the whole design process.
Chapter Two:
Background Research
cry when uncomfortable or hungry make many different sounds, including cooing, chuckling and babbling laugh at games such as an adult pulling faces or blowing raspberries look and reach for objects hold and shake a rattle put everything in their mouths. • Between 6 months to 1 year,
i) How are disabilities identified in Children?
Some disabilities can be identified using a list of ‘can and can’t do’s.’ This is not a definitive thing (a child may just be developing slower at a certain stage) but can be useful for helping to identify the possibility. Once that has been done the parents can consult a doctor for further tests to determine if the child has a disability or not. A useful list of things that a typical child should be doing, and at what age, is:
• By 6 months, babies will: from birth, turn their head toward sounds and movement reach up to hold feet when lying on their backs watch an adult’s face when feeding smile at familiar faces and voices
babies begin to move about to explore the world around them and:
move from sitting with support to sitting alone roll over from their tummy to their back begin to creep, crawl or shuffle on their bottom pull on or push against adult hands or furniture to reach a standing position become disturbed by strangers and may cling to familiar people show affection to familiar people turn and look up when they hear their name make distinct and separate sounds imitate some sounds and words such as ‘dada’ and ‘bubba’ pat and poke objects when playing pass objects from hand to hand enjoy dropping things and watching them fall look for things that have been hidden or dropped play turn-taking games like peek-a-boo respond (sometimes) to the word ‘No!’.
• Between 1 to 2 years, children: begin to walk feed themselves push and pull toys while walking become less fearful of strangers play alone or alongside other children defend their own things: do not understand sharing wave goodbye point or make noises to indicate wants enjoy a picture book shake head for ‘No!’ use several recognisable words and try to say new words. • Between 2 to 3 years, children: begin to show a preference for using their right or left hand scribble with a crayon or pencil pour from a jug or carton use the toilet with help learn to ride a tricycle know the names of familiar people say their name still have difficulty sharing and taking turns are keen to do things for themselves, ‘Me do it!’ begin to speak in short sentences use the names of objects copy the behaviour of others clap in time to music follow simple instructions enjoy listening to stories put together a simple puzzle.
• Between 3 to 4 years, children: walk and run jump with feet together ride a tricycle can toilet themselves begin to play cooperatively with other children share and take turns sometimes can listen and identify known sounds (cat, dog, vacuum cleaner) can sing or say some songs and rhymes ask endless questions but may not stay around to hear the answers ask the meaning of new words speak in short, clear sentences.
• Between 4 to 5 years, children: begin to ride a bicycle balance on one leg hop hold a pencil between thumb and forefinger
can dress themselves except for tying shoe laces develop more friendships, especially friends of the same sex show some understanding of other people’s feelings answer questions clearly give information and talk about past experiences, but may find it difficult to say what happened during the day when asked tell stories, jokes and riddles (their jokes may not make sense to adults) pass on messages move from scribble to line drawings enjoy making things out of ‘odds and ends’ use the words ‘and’ and ‘but’.
(*****Reference Site?*****) Others disabilities are obvious just from watching and observing the child. The child may show obvious signs of the disability in their interaction with other children, or even in private play. These Signs may include (*****PUT IN A LIST OF SIGNS HERE*****)
ii) Stages of Development in children
There are a number of ‘stages’ in a child’s growth and development. These are: The ‘Experience’ Stage, the ‘Discovery’ stage and the ‘Expanding Imagination’ Stage. These are useful guides to use when assessing the emphasises that are needed when directing
play, as all children develop at different stages (all children, including children with and without disabilities). The ‘Experience’ stage involves the child using their senses to touch and feel the toy to work out what the toy is.(***FLESH OUT***) In the ‘Discovery’ stage the toy itself helps to lead the child to figure out what it is and how it works. It is about the child discovering what it is that the toy does, and how it does it. It is important that the toy should be able help lead the child to discover how it works. E.g. what the child needs to
push to make a noise, or where the child needs to put a block in. The ‘Expanding Imagination’ stage is where the child uses their own imagination to create ways to play with the toy. The difference between this stage and the previous stage is that here the child is figuring out their own ways of doing things, rather than being led there by the toy. (*****MORE INFO??*****)
CONCLUSION text text text text
iii) Existing toys/Solutions
other children/adults as they play together and have fun together.
Digital Toys:
MathShark
Hot Potato.
Hot Potato (By Fundex Games) is an interactive toy that works to develop handeye coordination and social skills. Hot Potato is played by tossing the toy (which is shaped like a potato) around amongst the players until the music stops. The player that is holding the potato when the music stops is the loser. The toy itself generates the music, not an outside source such as a CD player, which makes it easy to use anywhere. Hot Potato is for ages five and up. Hot Potato helps to develop hand-eye coordination because the main aim of the game is to catch the potato when it is thrown at you, and to then throw it away to someone else as quickly as possible. Catching and throwing are both important in helping to develop hand-eye coordination in children when young, so it’s good to develop at an early age. Hot Potato also helps to build social skills, as it (obviously) can’t be played with only one player, so the child/children playing with it learn to interact with other people (both other children and adults if they are playing it with their parents etc). By playing with others they get used to the idea of not always winning, and learn how to accept this. It also helps to generate general interaction with
MathShark (By Educational Insights) is an electronic device that develops children’s Maths skills. It does it by quizzing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as quizzing fraction, decimals and percentages. It has eight different skill levels to continually keep pushing children as they work and develop their skills. As well as helping them to learn and develop via the quiz section MathShark also has a calculator function. MathShark is a ‘stand alone’ device that doesn’t need a computer/TV etc to run. MathShark is for children aged seven and up. MathShark helps children to develop their maths skills by making it fun and interactive to do maths problems. It also uses nice visual aesthetics to make it more appealing to children. The transportability of MathShark also makes it easy to take anywhere and use any time. The different skill levels also helps children to be continually developing their skills. As they learn and grow past the first level they can move onto the next level, which means that their thinking and maths skills are being continually pushed.
Analogue Toys:
Pop-Up Pirate
Pop-Up Pirate (By Tomy) is a turnbased board game where the players take turns putting swords into the barrel. The loser is the person who put their sword in last when the pirate ‘Black Beard’ pops out of the barrel. Pop-Up Pirate helps children to develop their hand-eye coordination skills as well as social skills. Pop-Up Pirate is for children aged four and above.
What’s in Ned’s Head
What’s in Ned’s Head (By Fundex Games) helps children to develop their tactile identification skills. The aim of the game is to collect the items from inside ‘Ned’s’ Head that match the card that each player is given at the start of the game. The winner is the first person to collect their items. What’s in Ned’s Head has won a lot of awards including Toy of the Year in 2005.
Pop-Up Pirate Helps children to develop their fine motor skills, as they need to perform precise movements as they put the sword into the barrel (because if they don’t then the pirate will pop up). It also helps them to link their actions with things that result from them: they learn to link the swords going into the barrel with the pirate popping out. Pop-Up Pirate also helps to develop social skills, as the children are interacting with one another while they are playing.
What’s in Ned’s Head helps children to build up their tactile identification skills. This is because children have to try and identify their object by touch and feel rather than by sight. They must search for their items that are in the head by sticking their hands inside to find them. This helps them to identify things by the feel, shape and size, rather than by just looking at them.
Water Trumpet
Water Trumpet (By ALEX) is an unusual toy that aims to “foster personal experience and build self-esteem.” Water Trumpet is (as the name suggests) a very basic trumpet. It lets children play and create their own experiences, with the aim of creating fun experiences that “opens a child’s mind to new skills, new ideas and new worlds.”
Some Existing Companies: Leapfrog
On of the leading toy companies for educational toys is Leapfrog. They design their toys in a way that is interesting and exciting, while still being educational. They design their toys so that they ‘grow’ along with the children: as the child ages and develops the toys ‘develops’ (by having different ways of using it that suit children of different ages) along with them, meaning that it can be used for a longer period of time.
Parents
A company that uses graphics and visual aesthetics well is Parents. They use lots of bright colours and chunky pieces which give the designs a really appealing feel. The chucky look and feel of their pieces also helps to accommodate for children with special needs without being outwardly for ‘disabled children.’ Their designs are very easy and simple to use, yet still work at developing the motor skills of the children using them.
Fundex Games
Fundex Games Is one of the leading companies in the world in games design. They make board games, dice games and card games. The strongest side to their work is the creativity and fun that they incorporate in every game. They tend to stick away from the stereotypical board game (a flat board with pieces that move around via rolling dice) instead going for more interesting and exciting boards that are 3D, or even games that don’t use a board at all.
CONCLUSION: how is this useful to me? what have i gotten out of it?
Chapter Three:
Approach/Methodologies
These were the two biggest fallers for the period. It is also interesting to note that Video Games grew by 19% over the 2007 – 2008 period, to be only $300 M less than the whole traditional toy industry sales figures. Meaning that the Video Games industry alone is almost the same size as the rest of the toy industry.
i) Market Research
The three biggest areas for toy sales over the period of Jan 2008 – December 2008 are toys for Infants/Preschoolers, Dolls and Outdoor and Sports Toys. But all three of these areas’ sales figures fell from the Jan 2007 – Dec 2007 results. It is also interesting to note that the fastest growing areas of toy sales between 2007 – 2008 are Building Sets and Plush toys. Both grew by over 20% for the period, with the next closest growing by 1% (with many of the areas even decreasing over the time period). This is very important to look at and consider when deciding what ‘area,’ or what ‘type’ of toy, to design for. The Youth electronics section fell by 14% over the 2007 – 2008 period, second only to the Vehicles section, which fell by 16%.
http://www.toyassociation.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Industry_Statistics&TEMPLATE=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=3887
ii) Interviews
iii) Case Studies
Chapter Four:
Research Summary
Play is a crucial stage in a child’s development. It is therefore crucial that all children be given the opportunity to play and have fun. The skills that can be developed at such an early life are important for a healthy development and can help the child to grow well. The aim of this project is to develope a desing, or multiple designs, that help to stimulate development in children, helping them to develop their motor skills, their comunication/social skills, and their imagination.