OVERVIEW

In MIT's 2.00b Toy Product Design Class, students were given a design exercise to create a push/pull toy for young children. The project goal was to quickly gain exposure and experience in making fun products. Students received a brief overview of the toy design/production process where woodworking workshops were given. 

As a 2.00b student in Spring 2022, I created a push AND pull toy entitled Son, Moon, and Star.

^BEGIN

Kicking off our next design exercise, we were given a few minutes during lecture to speed brainstorm ideas for our push/pull toys. My sketch was chosen as a stellar example to showcase, and I was (ironically) rewarded an honorary dumpster fire plush.




#BRAINSTORM
#SKETCH
#DUMPSTER-FIRE-PLUSH

^BUILD

After reviewing how to operate different woodworking tools, we were released into the design lab to build our toys. I made a few changes to my original idea and immediately started creating the parts for my toy. Refining the moon and star allowed me to become well experienced with the disk sander.

After gathering all the shapes, I gave an oil finish to each part in order to highlight the different types and colors of wood I chose. 


#DRILL-PRESS
#BANDSAW-MACHINE
#DISK-SANDER
#OIL-FINISH
#WOOD-WORKING

^BEHOLD

Finally, it was time to assemble. My initial plan was to build a push toy where a child could grab the moon to push the figure. However, attaching the star with a longer-than-intended piece of string allowed me to redirect the toy to include both push AND pull features, where a child could grab the string instead to pull the figure. 

I thought I would be finished here, but to my despair, the toy kept falling backwards due to a weight inbalance. Thinking of how to possibly fix this issue, I looked at the already made/cut wooden pieces that were free to use. Finding various sized spheres and rings, I came across little doll-shaped figures. In 2022, I placed a man on the moon by super gluing a wooden doll to the base of my toy and behold - my toy could finally stand on its own!


#PUSH-AND-PULL
#ASSEMBLE
#LAST-MINUTE-ADDITIONS