Design of a ‘make and play’ toy for children


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Creator/Artist: Rijesh K

Category: Product Design

Document: P2 Project

Batch: 2022-2024

Source: India,   IDC IIT Bombay

Period:  2019-onwards

Medium: Report pdf

Supervisor: Prof. Avinash Shende


Detailed Description

Among the many definitions for “play”, child development expert Jorn Martin Steenhold’s “explanation” that play is an activity undertaken for its own sake characterised largely by its processes rather than end goals inspired me to work on this topic. As part of my initial studies, I tried to understand the different aspects of childhood, child developmental stages, types and stages of play, evolution of toys, types of toys, etc. from secondary sources. During the user studies and interactions with children, parents and teachers, I understood their play preferences and the types of play materials and toys they interact with every day. Among these, the most recurrent behaviour among children was to ‘make’ and ‘break’ things. This led me to explore the segment of toys commonly referred to as toys for ‘constructive play’. Another aspect of my study was to explore the nature of ‘goal-orientated’ or ‘open-ended’ toys and arrive at an ‘object of play’ that can provide opportunities for both types of play.