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Toy and Game Design
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mailjanki@gmail.com |
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Play Material for Social Development of Children in Kindergarten Setup
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Guide Gayatri Menon |
Sponsonr Self Sponsored
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Socio-cultural interactions in peer settings are extremely important for a child’s emotional development. My project brief was to design a toy or a learning aid, space, or medium for ‘emotional development’ for children aged 3 to 6 years.
I commenced my project with a literature review on several early childhood pedagogical approaches and the work of child psychologists. I then conducted a study of 50 kindergartens across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Germany and acquired many cross-cultural insights.
The final design direction I arrived at is a game which encourages children to play the roles of various characters ranging from animals to humans. The kit includes cue cards and shoes designed in a flexible material. The shoes are fins, hooves or feet that the children attach to their feet with Velcro. They gets cue cards containing words or pictures around their character and they have to create a story around the character whose shoes they are wearing. The story cards have no ending. It is the child who has to create the ending. The child can also team up with other kids to create more complex stories. My designs are focused on building peer interactions and fostering co-operation by working collaboratively with other children. There isn’t a win-lose orientation. It is only win-win. All my designs incorporate the use of imagination and pretend play to fully develop the child’s creative potential.
My project has been extremely enriching. I have been fortunate to acquire an overall systems thinking exposure to toy design as well as cross-cultural experience in both India and Germany |
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