Afterlife of Toys

AquaCycle Maze

Ella Val

AquaCycle Maze: a toy maze that teaches children, ages 4-8, about the process of recycling and the impacts of man-made waste on the earth. This game coaches children in hand-eye coordination, navigation, patience, and problem-solving skills.


Each year humans dump around 17.6 billion pounds of plastic waste into our oceans. It is estimated that by 2050 ocean plastic will outweigh all of the ocean's fish. Due to these alarming statistics, it is anticipated that the job of ocean recycling will flourish in the future. The AquaCycle not only teaches kids about the positive contributions that can be done to change our trash-filled oceans but also familiarizes them with the job of ocean recycling; it has six sides with six different categories. One side is the trash pick-up place in which the user of the toy will start the maze on this side and bring the trash to other mazes. Four of the sides consist of different recycling stations that show the specific processes of recycling materials such as aluminum, glass, plastic bottles/containers, and paper. Lastly, the final side is another portal that leads back into the ocean. This last side is intended to show that some waste is not recyclable and will, unfortunately, remain in our oceans forever. The toy is played with by going through each maze and distributing the trash to its equivalent recycling. 

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