Jina Kang Toy Proposal
Prototype and observation
My idea came from my grandmother. When I was little, she would always have two walnuts just roll around in her hand.
She said that it’s good for exercising brains and also helps to prevent dementia. And in Asia, lots of older people do the same
thing with walnuts. It was also proven scientifically that it helps with dementia, brain exercising and concentration. Also not
just for older people, it helps every age group.
When I observed people using my toy, most of the people thought it was “piece of a cake” to fit the pieces together with one hand,
but as soon as they held it in their hands, they found out that it was trickier than they thought. It seems more engaging and tricky
then it looks like.
Improvments
First when I was brainstorming for this project, I wanted to go with “stress-release” or “relaxing” toys. In my category, “challenge” attracted me more,
but I just assumed that building something like a “puzzle” was too difficult. So first, I wanted to build walnut shaped balls out of wood then I thought it
was too boring and it functions much like meditation balls. Then I could add the challenging part to this toy. I made holes and keys to fit them together.
Now not just rolling them around in one hand. I’ve made 2 pairs of walnuts, so you can exercise both hands and both brains at the same time.