Master Thesis
My master thesis project was conducted in collaboration with industrial design studio HarritSorensen as well as a number of habilitation and pre-school professionals in Skåne, Sweden. Without their much needed input this project wouldn’t have been possible.
The goal of the project was to aid children’s fine motor development using toys made from wood.
To achieve products well grounded in user needs, study visits were conducted at a number of pre-schools where teachers were asked about children’s toy needs. Habilitation professionals were also consulted.
The project resulted in three toys intended to practice different areas important for fine motor proficiency.
Process
Idea generation was focused on coming up with concepts suitable for all ages and that could practice different hand skills. This to practice fine motor skill at all ages present at pre-schools, i.e 1- to 6-year-olds.
To generate ideas, play patterns and hand movements inspired the sketching process, resulting in, amongst many others, the sketches shown here. By making animals a playfulness was introduced to the toys.
After initial sketching and user research had been performed, ten different toy concepts were developed. Each with their own way of encouraging practice of fine motor skills.
These 10 toys were then evaluated by previous interviewees resulting in 3 final concepts for the project.
The 3 final concepts
The three final concepts can be seen below, feel free to click the images to see the processes behind them and how the toys aim to aid fine motor development.
