Prototyping Play

In our first class of the Fall 2015 season we asked children at TP Loblaw Boys and Girls Club to design toys for toddlers. The goal for this intro. session is to have fun prototyping (building a model version of an invention). We want them to turn their ideas into something tangible and to get comfortable with construction. 

All of our students invented toys with the senses in mind. Out  of a large mound of materials, emerged a twisting fur rattle, a wearable play centre, a whole collection of colourful crib toys, a bug twister, a mini golf set and a toddler music zone. 

                                           Here's a colourful hand rattle. 

This music zone toy, evolved as a team effort over the course of the hour long session. The inventors were careful to consider safety elements -the xylophone is squishy with soft wackers. This class introduces the kids to the concept that inventions and designs are for someone: the "user". When we're designing for someone else- it's a good idea to think about who they are and what they need or want. Better still ask them! The students had a lot of enthusiasm for this project because many of them have little sisters and brothers. So in this case empathy and understanding of the user come naturally.

This wearable toy monopolized on the fun factor. The striped cloak is decorated with knotted foam bits and crunchy mylar. The furry headband includes plenty of textured elements to explore with little fingers.

This rotating fur rattle incorporates moveable textured knobs and a reflective base.

And here's the bug stick. Baby has a selection of brightly coloured balls to twist and a bonus fly to chew on! This student worked hard to secure the beads onto the stick so that a baby couldn't pull them off.

At the end of the session in our demo time, our students had a chance to reflect on what they have designed. They explain the invention concept and why it will be suitable for toddlers. 

Well done kids. Can't wait to see what you invent next!

Make something awesome: Fall 2015 after-school sessions

A 9 week session is starting up on Mondays at Artscape Youngplace. There will be a pick up at Givins Shaw school. Students from other schools are welcome to join us at Artscape. 

Here's our new schedule:

Week 1 (Sept. 28th): "Moving Words"
Make a kinetic sculpture that's also a sign.

Week 2 (Oct. 5th): "Rainy Daze"
Improve on umbrella design: make it cooler, drier, more eco-friendly.

Week 3 (Oct. 19th): "Picnic Party" 
Plan the perfect outdoor feast.

Week 4 (Oct. 26th): "Spooktacular Light Show" 
Scare your friends by creating a ghostly chandelier, a haunted light sculpture or an illuminated decoration for Halloween.

Week 5 (Nov 2nd): "Come up to our room" 
Build furniture for a fabulous hangout for kids.

Week 6 (Nov 9th): "A design for good and evil"
Make one outfit that morphs from a dream to a nightmare. 

Week 7 (Nov. 16th): "Blind Store"
Experience shopping without sight then reimagine the grocery store.

Week 8 (Nov. 23rd): "Help! We've got chores" 
Build a device that can tidy your room.

Week 9 (Nov. 30th): "Mission Possible" 
Create a secret zipline drop for spies.

Watercraft

Our final class of this session: designing, building and testing boats.  Lots of decisions to make when making a vessel that's seaworthy and visually interesting. What materials will be buoyant, waterproof and light enough to allow for propulsion through water? What overall shape is streamlined enough, stable and will stay on course?

Testing was an important part of this class.

This bottle provides lots of potential buoyancy….

But a round-bottomed hull and a high centre of gravity was susceptible to rolling -especially in calm water!

A flat-bottomed hull like this pontoon style boat design was far more stable in this situation. 

Some boats had extra floats for added buoyancy.

Some vessels used jet propulsion (with the aid of a balloon) to move through the water. We discovered that this worked best when the design was very light, like this example above.

Other boats were designed for wind power and came equipped with sails and a complex of masts (with a crow's nest up top).

Small streamlined boats (like these speedboat type designs) can move quickly by planing over the water. They are highly manoeuvrable.

Time to test how much load the boats can carry.

This slipper boat could only carry a small load.

Whereas this large very buoyant flat-hulled vessel was like a tanker-almost unsinkable!

Each design had its own story. There is a comfortably furnished army boat, a pirate tugboat and even a torpedo porcupine boat. 

Boats Ahoy!

Give me shelter

This week we gave the kids quite a limited set of building materials and asked them to construct a hideaway, with enough space for at least one person and sturdy enough to withstand a storm. 

                    

One industrious team used rolled up paper rods and cardboard tubing to construct a rectangular frame structure.

They had to deal with some classic construction issues caused by compression forces. What to do when your frame buckles in the middle? Either add more crossbars or "maybe we should use stronger material?"

In the end turning the frame on its side helped a bit- broader base, less height. Once a canvas was flipped over the frame it made for a cosy two person hideaway.

Another student decided to use the corrugated cardboard to construct a hut with curvilinear sides. This bypasses the need for a rod-based frame and has the advantage of creating a self-supporting wall.

Secure joints are important in a rod frame.

This student constructed a rod frame to make a pod like lean-to. He hung joined paper rods from the coat pegs on the wall and used a cardboard tube as a supporting strut. Next he put a layer of paper as a covering and then draped a sheet on top to enclose the structure. Pretty neat.

These students made a shelter with cardboard tubes, tape and blind frets and a corrugated card cover. Peek underneath and you can see a good structural detail: the addition of stops at the frame base to prevent the tubes from slipping out. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the testing stage of their design: turns out this structure can withstand a serious tornado!
                                   

Camping out!

Club Ex

This week we focused on the experience of joining a club. 

What new and original club might we invent and how could we make it a really good place for kids (real or virtual)? This is designing an experience in an organization and it requires the kids imagine themselves in that club. 

First step: design a name and logo. How about the Ninja Club? 

Or the combination Alice in Wonderland Tropical Club with a cheshire cat beach ball? 

Brochure Warning: "Only come to our website if you suffer from nightmares or crazy ideas. May be pictures of things that will make you have a heart attack because you are laughing so hard".

Next step: how to promote the club? Some kids made paper prototypes of websites. This is a practise that some web developers use to first discuss a web design with their clients. By stripping away the moving graphics of the computer, it's easier to focus on the information that the user might need. Other kids designed brochures. Both items involve layout and content design.

At the kids' shopping club, members are given an allowance and meet up at popular stores to shop til they drop. Subsidies are available for kids that need them.

At the food club, young people collaborate to decide on  a menu, cook it and then share interesting and new tastes with one another.

At Bugs R US there is a fully equipped nature centre. Kids are taught how to handle the bugs with care and may also see local reptiles and birds.

These students worked on a system of secure membership cards for the tech club with fingerprint ID.