Young Designers 2009

 
Janaki Sonalkar
Toy and Game Design | PGDPD
mailjanki@gmail.com
 
Play Material for Social Development of Children in Kindergarten Setup
 
Guide Gayatri Menon
Sponsonr Self Sponsored
Keywords
> Child psychology
> Kindergarten
> Emotional development
> Socio-cultural interaction
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
Communication Design
AFD 9
ED 5
FVC 13
GD 18
Industrial Design
CGD 9
FID 11
PD 15
Toy and Game Design 4
Anindita Sengupta
Hardika Shah
Janaki Sonalkar
Rishi Kumar Verma
TrAD 8
Interdisciplinary Design
DRE 14
SDM 17
I.T. Integrated Design
DDE 7
IDD 9
NMD 10
SUID 9
Textile Design
ADM 17
LAD 10
TD 37
Guide
Sponsor
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