Our object is designed to create a play experience in which a child and child interact to achieve an intrinsic award. This collaborative medium addresses the pain point that the covid-19 pandemic has caused, declining social skills in young adolescents.
Based on a survey by the AAC&U (Association of American Colleges and Universities) found that more than 80 percent of midsize or larger employers look for collaboration skills in new hires. but as over $37 billion is lost through unsuccessful business meetings, fewer than 40 percent of the employers considered new graduates prepared to work in teams. This means the ability to collaborate with others has become one of the most sought-after skills in both education and the workplace. To be more successful in the work environment, children need to learn at a younger age to work in a space with peers, and along the way, seeing others' perspectives can lead to a more empathetic environment for all.
The nature of this object creates an empathetic and open-minded environment for the rising youth to learn and grow from each other.
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Play + Learning| Fall Session I | Sept. 8 - Sept. 30
Studio Brief
Due to public outcry, companies have been reimagining their mission statements and products in order to quell the effects of climate change. In the toy industry alone, an estimated 90% of toys end up in landfills. With most of these toys made from hard-to-recycle plastics, the best way to reduce waste is to be conscientious of the playability of a toy.
In this studio, students will study how the art of play impacts the way children develop necessary physical and cognitive skills in order to develop Montessori Method-inspired toys that grow alongside the child and adapt in their playability to promote sustainable practices.
Students will engage in an accelerated iterative design process inspired by the partnership NuVu has with the Cambridge Montessori School by engaging in focus group interviews and revisiting for user play testing of prototypes. As a final product, these toy designers will develop not only a fully-fledged prototype, but will also develop accurate plans for the manufacture and scalability of their toys.
TheraPlay creates a set of materials, inspired and based on Montessori materials, to act as a method of initiating and facilitating communication and conversation between a child 5+ years old and an adult. Conversation and expressing emotions to an adult is often difficult for young children just grasping emotions and language. As a result, children may keep thoughts and emotions to themselves, impacting their overall mental health and feeling. Utilizing color, texture, and shape, TheraPlay attempts to help solve the lowering quality of mental health in children 5-11 over the pandemic and the 20% of untreated mental issues that exist in one-fifth of children, before the pandemic, according to the American Psychological Association.
TheraPlay uses prompts to start and associates color with emotions to draw initial attention while using texture and shape as a point of engagement and a conversation starter. Based off the conclusions about color by Chattanooga, Tenn. (2021), texture by Iosifyan & Korolkova (2019), and physically polling students on color and texture using samples of materials.
Geo-Play is an educational toy designed to help kids understand the world around them with an assessable and educational toy.
Geo-Play creates a valuable experience through play by integrating fun with learning to show students that learning about culture and geography can be enjoyable. The geo play started as a project looking at cartography and how it does not properly show the size of countries. also the way that som countries are centered and others arent. the user is a 2nd the 4th grader and the goal is to teach younger children about cartography and cultures around the world.
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