Alex and I have been developing the plans for the blocks in preparation for building the prototypes in the next week. For this, I built the community edition of QCad (open source FTW!) and have been teaching myself how to draw with it. There was a bit of a learning curve to the interface and the modal model of the application tools, but I’m now relatively comfortable with the basics. (more…)

Visiting the American International Toy Fair gave me a brief overview of what is popular across many facets of the toy industry. I wouldn’t claim to have a thorough comprehension of the market, but it was certainly an informative experience.

Some of my notes from fair:
Infrared control.
Lots of robot kits. Solar powered vs. battery powered.
Grouped into prefab and modular kits.
Sound and light sensors, too.
Example: HexPods. Overheard vendor discuss user testing: Kids want control and speed.
Slot car systems. Even here there is much licensing. (Nintendo – Mario Cart)
Figurine playsets. Thematically related. Realistically detailed. Schleich.
Glow strings and kits.
Materials: Lots of plastic (PVC), lots of wood.
Many stuffed animals.
Lots of board games and educational toys. Brain teasers.
Flying toys. Planes/helicopters.
Tents and other enclosures.
Saw remote controlled drawing robots. Reminded me of Chris Cerrito’s project
Pedal powered cart. Awesome. Disc brakes and 7 speed shifting. (more…)

*(the name of the toy is still under consideration)

SkipDraw
A classic toy reinvented for the active kid of today.

Wear the SkipDraw on your ankle and spin it on the floor around your feet. As it spins, the LED lighted cross will rotate independently. See it draw images of light in mid air as you skip in the center.

Features:

• Encourages kids to play outside of their rooms.
• Promotes physical exercise.
• Can be played indoors or outdoors.
• Compact storage when not in use.
• Is still engaging in daylight or without the batteries.
• Entertaining to watch.

(more…)

Some research for our first assignment in Toy Design. Paul had an idea for a drawing toy that that would rotate, with extensions at the end of a string or rope also rotating and actually making the marks.

Here’s a quick sketch of the possible output. There is also an animated version with speed controls.

This is all very rough, but I wanted to mock something up before investing too much work into prototyping it.