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ABSTRACT

Connectrix – Educational Toy for Preschool Children

Connectrix is an educational toy for preschool children. The toy contains 54 blocks of 5 different shapes and 2 types of connectors. These blocks of 5 shapes are interconnected to each other through the connectors. Children can make various formations like objects, patterns, furniture, animals, birds, etc by connecting them. The formations, made through these blocks, could be used by the children. They would be helpful in learning of everyday objects along with providing fun of making something which would be usable by children. Connectrix helps in enhancing imaginative ability of children through abstract formations. Moving, connecting and deconstructing blocks also help in development of gross motor skills and fine motor skills of children and give them idea of joinery and mechanism. The object or animals, made using blocks, could be used for story telling or theme learning which could help children to communicate and interact with each other. Connectrix has been designed in a way to provide maximum connection alternatives to allow large number of formations. The toy helps in child`s cognitive development, physical development and social development.

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CHAPTER 1 SPONSOR DETAILS

1.1 Registered Name of Company Playgro Toys India Pvt. Ltd 1.2 Contact Details Mr. Manu Gupta (Director) Address : 2057 / 38, Gold Plaza Building, Gurudwara Road, Karol Bagh, New Delhi – 110005, India Tel No. : (011) 28752545 / 46 Email : playgrotoys@yahoo.com

1.3 Company Profile Established in the year 2006 Playgro Toys India Pvt. Ltd. is an ISO 9001:2000 Certified organization. It is engaged in manufacturing and distributing kids toys and playing equipments. Company`s infrastructure comprises of various units such as manufacturing, quality testing, warehouse and research & development. Main activity of company comprises manufacturing and distribution of 1. Kids toys 2. Indoor & outdoor playground equipment 3. Outdoor amusement equipment 4. Kids classroom furniture

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CHAPTER 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

2.1 Initial Design brief To develop a toy / game which helps in mental growth of children of age group 3 – 7, through “Learning while Playing 2.2 User group Children between 3 – 6 years of age (Preschool children)

2.3 Project Description According to a cognitive theory of child development, Children “construct” their knowledge through “experiences”, and experiences are provided to them by the physical environment, people and products surrounding them. Toys, thus, are said to be of high importance and most influential products in the early development of a child. In today`s changing education system, where there is a rising awareness towards the concept of "learning while playing", The main focus of the project is designing of a toy which helps in growth of the child, especially, mental growth of child. The main objective of the project is to design an educational toy which would provide a quality play value to the children along with considering various safety measures. The toy would allow children to interact and experiment with it and provides a scope to improve their skills along with fun and excitement. The age group defined for the educational toy is 3 – 6 years (Preschool kids) as the early stages of learning is quite critical in mental growth when kid`s brain starts grasping the things around them and starts relating themselves to surroundings. The focus of the toys industry`s basic activity, as the name itself suggest - Playgro Toys, is design and manufacturing toys which are helpful in mental and physical development of child during their early years of learning. The industry is though highly interested in developing a new idea with the help of a design student.

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6.6 Available toys at Amiown Preschool

Construction blocks of foam, plastic and wood which provides multiple play value, improves creative and imaginative ability, enhance fine motor skills and encourage social interaction

Toys and playing aids related to counting and mathematics like abacus, clock, stacking blocks which allows learning mathematics with fun

Tracking toys, thread and beads and jigsaw puzzles help in enhancing the concentration and hand eye coordination along with improving fine motor skills

More focus is given to shapes and texture of alphabets and numbers at this age as children can remember the them through identifying their shapes. Wooden cut alphabet and sand paper alphabets are used for language development

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CHAPTER 7 PARENT`S / EDUCATOR`S POINT OF VIEW 7.1 Objectives Interview of parents / educators Understand their idea of “learning while playing” To understand need of active / passive users To identify vacuum in market of toys 7.2 Methodology 14 popular educational toys were selected which provide various learning associated to five basic developments Questionnaire was designed to lead towards the conclusion of types of toys preferred by parents / educators, to understand the rationale behind preference of those toys and to understand their needs. No. of Survey participants : 27 Survey medium : In person, Online

7.3 Survey results

1. Parent / educator

2. Which is the most important thing you look in a toy while buying/selecting it?

Learning value is the most important thing which parents / educators see in a toy

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3. From the images of various educational toys given, select 3 toys, Which you would buy for your child / your preschool

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6. What would your child see while selecting a toy?

7.4 Conclusion

Parents / Educators prefer toys which gives cognitive skill development along with physical activity

Construction blocks are the most preferred educational toys as they give a repetitive use, helps in cognitive development, improves imaginative skills, provides abstraction of object.

Repetitive use and multiple play value is very important as kids are used to get bored with monotonous play and eventually they stop playing with a toy which provides monotonous play.

Making something with their hands, assembling, deconstructing, making their hands dirty are some of the favorite plays of children.

Physical activity along with cognitive development is highly preferred.

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CHAPTER 10 FINAL CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT 10. 1 Final Concept 1

Final concept was combination of two concepts. In first concept, one circle of 400mm dia was radially developed and the outer circle was cut into 8 segments. The combination of these 8 segments and circle can create various patterns. They could be useful for teaching counting to children as while they walk on segments arranged in linear way, they can count no of segments they have walked on while going from point A to point B. Learning Mathematics Geometry Balance

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10.2 Final concept 2

In Second concept, some of the organic forms were taken as inspiration to make blocks which could be connected together to make various themes related to nature. Learning Abstraction Imagination Joinery Tactile perception

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CHAPTER 11 CONNECTRIX

11.1 Final Geometry

As the base circle was only in use as a base to fit other shapes on it and was a bit bigger for the user group, the circle, during evolution, divided into four parts and a new geometry was set accordingly.

The final geometry consists of five shapes through which various 3d and 3d formations can be generated.

The connections were supported by two connectors of two different size which cater as connectors as well as supports for five shape blocks

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11.2 Testing of size and joinery with full scale mockup