NIWA
a gardening toy
Embedded Files
project prompt
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Design your own playset appropriate for a girl between the ages of 3 and 5 years old.
RESEARCH / /
design research
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I decided to focus on a toy centered around gardening not only for the pretend play cababilities but also for the range of actions that the child could be expected to perform and learn from. I did some reading on the benefits of gardening for young children.
“Gardening with children provides the perfect combination of skills and tasks to address your child’s development.”
“Fine motor skills such as whole-hand grasping and the pincer grasp (necessary skills for writing) are employed in gardening...”
“Young children can practice locomotor skills, body management skills and object control skills while they move from one place to the other carrying tools, soil and water.”
- Kittie Butcher and Janet Pletcher “Gardening with young children helps their development”
IDEATION / /
sketches
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I found there were many actions when gardening that could be brought into a pretend play session. I made sure to cover many aspects of gardening such as planting, harvesting, watering, and following a task list. I focused on making it a well-rounded gardening experience, exploring the many steps in the gardening life cycle.
PROCESS / /
refinement
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I more closely studied the plants and vegetables used in the garden playset. I wanted to make sure there was a visual diversity in the selection of not only the vegetables but also the leaves of the plants. While the final style of the plants would veer on the side of cartoony and simplistic, it was important to be distinct and accurate as it would be educational for kids to identify and understand the visual differences in plants.
PROCESS / /
mechanisms
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The mechanisms used in this toy are low-tech but focus on simulating a more realistic gardening action such as harvesting from a plant or uprooting vegetables from the ground. Practically, there was also a focus on how a toy like this could be stored away.
Magnets attach the produce to the wooden plant bases, allowing the vegetables to repeatedly be "picked" off the plant and put on again. Plastic toy scissors could separate the felt vegetables from the plants, similar to how gardening scissors are used.
The root vegetable toys would sit in a pouch sewn into the top of the soil box with a slit opening, allowing the child to simulate pulling a vegetable like a potato out of the ground.
FINAL SOLUTION / /
NIWA
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When I initially designed this toy, I got feedback from an industry professional that the idea was a "blue sky" design and would be too expensive for the average customer. After working in the design field and experiencing the pricing constraints common in the retail world, I revisited this project and added different "tiers" representing different price points under the same design concept.
FINAL SOLUTION / /
tier 1
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The first tier gives the customer a single potted plant, a seed bag filled with beads for a sensory experience, a garden critter, and a reusable task list. I imagine different plants available at this tier with the seed bag and garden animal changing accordingly.
FINAL SOLUTION / /
tier 2
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This tier gives the child more plants and a different method to harvest. There are more seed bags and a new garden tool available to make a more realistic gardening experience.
FINAL SOLUTION / /
tier 3
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Tier 3 is the highest price point in this design concept. It has everything the other tiers have while adding more tools and plants. While many customers might not want to spend the money that this would retail at, visualizing the full set would get people excited about what the other price points would have to offer.
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