Field study

On the field

We visited the BR toy store in Gallerian to research what kind of toys kids in the age group of 1-4 is using. 

By looking at the toys available in the store we found that they were both in soft and hard materials. The softer ones were mostly for the younger kids. Many of them had bright colours and resembled real thing e.g. keys, parking lots, telephones etc. Most toys for that age group were made out of large pieces, presumably so that the kids won't swallow the toys. 

Specifically for toys in our category, building blocks, there were a lot of different shapes and colours some with pictures on them and some without. This is for the children to be able build a lot of different creations. 

The aspects that we find important when designing for small children is that the toys should be safe and that the toys are colourful and changeable to make them more interesting. We think its import and to recognise that toddlers put their toys in the mouth which means that the design would have to be big enough for the children not to swallow it. They will also probably not be that careful with their toys which means that they shouldn't break easily. 

Building blocks for 1+ toddlers

Building blocks for slightly older than 1+ toddlers

We then asked a couple of parents about what their kids normally played with.

Interview 1

The first parent had a 4 year old daughter she played mostly with Duplo lego and dolls. She didn't feel like the child wanted any technical enhancements to her toys but thought that if se had a boy that might have wanted it. Regarding the safety of toys she used to think about it when her child was younger but not any longer because she felt that her child was old enough to handle the toys. 

Interview 2

The second parent had to children one 2 year old and one 5 year old, both boys. The almost exclusively played with Lego and other building blocks. Their attention span for other toys were very short and they always returned to the Lego. They often tried to recreate what they saw on television with their Lego and building blocks. He wasn't very concerned about safety because he found that the kids learn very quickly that they shouldn't eat certain things. He was also sceptic about adding technology to Lego and building blocks because he thought it was more important that the kids use their imagination.

Conclusion

When designing toys for toddlers it seems that the ability to create from imagination is important to keep the kids entertained for longer times than just a few minutes. From our observation at the store almost every toy was brightly coloured, which could be important to the toddlers for grabbing their attention. Also the size of each piece is large which could have different meanings, like if it is too small it's hard to handle and is easier to swallow. Regarding safety the parents of the toddlers did not think about it that much. Perhaps they trust the toy companies to create safe toys, which makes it important for us to create toys which are safe for toddlers to play with.

By: Carolina, Josefine, Lennart, Julius