PLAY+ TOY

PLAY + TOY

Continuous Assessment

Final Assignment: Toy Design : Play and The Act of Play – Individual

(40% marks from 100% overall marks)

Submission: Week 7 (4 weeks)

Lecturers:

Paul Nickson Atia (paulnickson.anakatia@taylors.edu.my)

Hanim Bahauddin (hanim.bahauddin@taylors.edu.my)

Sarah Abedi Abdullah (sarahabedi.abdullah@taylors.edu.my)

Akmal Nordin (akmal.nordin@taylors.edu.my)

ABSTRACT : Play

Remember when we were kids, we would be building fortress or houses

made of stacked pillow cushions, we would pick up a wooden stick or tree

branch pretending to start shooting the enemies in a battlefield? We

turned empty water bottles or chopstick into drums or drumstick, and we

would proudly be riding our horses made from the pillow cushions. You

need only a piece of towel or clothe as a cape, you are now a Superman or

Batman. Any found items or daily objects around us are turned into toys

or repurposed and rethinking into objects of play.

The possibilities of ideas in making or creating a play is limitless;

quite literally.

Maria Montessori, an Italian physician, and educator best known for

the philosophy of education that bears her name, and her writing on

scientific pedagogy highlighted in her book The Absorbent Mind (1949)

the importance of play in a child’s development. “Play is the work of the
child”, said Montessori. Children are believed to value the processes and

the act of play more than the ends.

“All play is associated with intense thought activity and rapid

intellectual growth. The highest form of research is essentially play.

Einstein is quoted as saying, “The desire to arrive finally at logically

connected concepts is the emotional basis of a vague play with basic
ideas. This combinatory or associative play seems to be the essential
feature in productive thought”” (N.V.,Scarfe, Play is Education,
Childhood Education, 1962)

play

/pleɪ/

engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.

toy

/tɔɪ/

an object for a child to play with, typically a model or miniature replica of something.

Objectives

1. To train students in the ideation process using the concept of

deductive reasoning and questioning in building up the narratives and

justification of ideas.

2. To execute ideation into building the prototype of the design and

demonstration of its application.

3. To explore and develop ideas from various sources, materials and

techniques.

PLAY + TOY

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the assignment, students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate and apply critical and creative solutions to respond

to design constraints, the scenario or situation in developing the

project using visualizations, diagrams, drawings, infographics, etc.

2. Understand the importance of application of DESIGN THINKING SKILLS in

developing and building a project.

Task-Methodology

Scenario

You are a designer in a design company assigned to the children’s and

youth’s department to design a toy or an object of play.

Body parts and movements are synonymous with toys as they are the

enablers for the play or the act of play to take place.

Different body parts and movements respond differently to a toy

when performing a play or the act of play.You will be assigned A

BODY PART as your main focus in designing the toy. Your task is to

design a toy based on the body part assigned to you.

Body Parts :

1. Head

2. Neck & Shoulder

3. Arms

4. Wrist & Hand

5. Leg & Feet

PLAY + TOY

Materials :

• Category 1: Recycled Materials – wrappers, paper bag, plastic bags,

boxes, woods, polystyrene, aluminium, etc.

• Category 2: Found Objects – old figurines, toys, sports equipments, old

books, plant’s foliage, old machine parts, etc.

• Category 3: Daily Objects – old clothes, old footwears, old bags,

ropes, kitchen utensils, household wares, etc.

The design of the toy can only use the materials from the categories

listed above.

Your toy must be of manually operated and cannot be battery operated or

electronic operated. Please refer to the keywords provided to assist your toy

design.

Design Thinking Tasks

• EMPATHY – to present by using visual notes, sketches, drawings,

diagrams and etc. the questions, research and investigation on play

and the act of play, toy or object of play, materials and resources,

general understanding of the assigned body part and its movement.

• DEFINE – to present analysis and understanding based on the findings.

To provide the aim, narratives, overall concept and the understanding

of the materials. Provide/state initial design ideas of the toy or

object of play based on the assigned body part and its movements and

the materials.

• IDEATION – to propose a minimum of three (3) design ideas of toy or

the object of play in details using sketches, drawings, diagrams,

visualizations, and etc. Design ideas should include the narratives

and your concept, materials selected; to respond and react to the

assigned body part and of its movements. Select one (1) final idea to

be developed in prototyping.

• PROTOTYPE – Execution of idea; to develop and create/build the toy or

the object of play using the materials selected. The prototyping and

development of the built toy should involve modifications, amendments

and improvements.

• PRESENTATION – to name the final toy or object of play and to create

an infographic poster with labels and annotations.

PLAY + TOY

Important Note: Designed TOY or OBJECT of PLAY must RESPOND to your ASSIGNED

BODY PART and its MOVEMENTS when performing PLAY or THE ACT OF PLAY.

Submission requirements:

1. PDF/POWERPOINT slide compilation of your DESIGN THINKING working

process.

2. A video recording demonstration of you playing and interacting with

the designed toy in different angles and views.

PLAY + TOY

References

Please note that these are suggested references; students are encouraged

to perform own independent learning and research for alternative

references. Other suggested references will also be provided from time to

time on FB or TIMES posting.

• https://theconversation.com/how-john-berger-changed-our-way-of-seeing-

art-70831

• Marnie Campagnaro – The Function of Play in Bruno Munari’s Children’s

Books. A Historical Overview

• https://www.mariamontessori.com/2013/09/26/the-five-characteristics-

of-play-and-of-montessori-work/

• https://gseuphsdlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/the-absorbent-

mind-montessori

• https://fs.blog/2014/04/einstein-productive-thought-combinatory-

creativity/

http://www.mariamontessori.com/2013/09/26/the-five-characteristics-