Reflection

The 'toy concepts' project proved to be more difficult than I had originally expected. In doing both this exercise and the toy dissection in class, I learned that many toys are more complicated than I thought, and it is hard to figure out exactly how they work, even with a general concept of the mechanisms. It was hard to come up with and justify new ideas, especially in thinking about interactions that are fun and can capture (and hold) a child's attention. For me personally, one of the most challenging aspects (though not a requirement) was trying to think of original concepts. In coming up with ideas, I dismissed many of them as being too similar to existing toys, and not incorporating enough of an explicit learning 'feature'. While my final concepts do include specific physical aspects, they, like all objects, also aid children in learning about the world, simply through visual and tactile interaction.