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Zipadoodle
The Zipadoodle, a plush building block toy, helps five-year-old children learn to dress themselves independently by practicing with various types of fasteners, including buttons, zippers, ties, loops, snaps, and magnets.
Sophomore Studio, Fall 2021
Project Guidelines
Objectives: Design a toy that teaches an important learning concept for kids ages 5, 6, or 7. Toy must be to scale.
Duration: Started 08/31/2021, completed 10/06/2021
Skills: Pattern making, hand sewing, utilizing zippers, buttons, snaps, and magnets, market research, and Adobe Illustrator
Design Opportunities
The toy aims to teach five year old children how properly use connection methods such as zippers, ties, buttons, and magnets while developing fine motor skills. Parents and guardians have a need for a toy that will make their children less dependent on their attention and help, especially when getting ready for school in the mornings.
Initial Concepts
The questions I kept in mind while sketching included: “What would keep a child engaged for a long amount of time? What activities would spark their curiosity?” The chosen concept that I pursued gives the child the most amount of freedom while teaching them how to work with connection methods such as zippers, ties, and buttons.
Prototyping
After finalizing the concept, a preliminary prototype was constructed using muslin, buttons, snaps, and yarn. The underlying forms of the toy pieces were created from a random assortment of circles and ovals. These shapes were then traced, and “holes” were incorporated into their designs. The resulting model was built at a one-fourth scale.
Pattern Development
The first prototype’s form was created using completely random shapes. The final form is based on three different sizes of circles: 3, 6, and 9 inch circles. This measurement was decided by looking at anthropomorphic measurements of five year old children. The patterns shown on the left make up the seven primary pieces of the toy.
Process
1. Trace all primary and secondary pieces onto white felt with a pen
2. Cut out pieces
3. Map out elements (buttons, snaps, zippers, etc.) onto each piece
4. Hand sew elements onto felt
5. Sew pieces together (with elements facing the inside) leaving a small 1 inch gap
6. Turn pieces inside out
7. Fill pieces with polyester fiber
8. Sew small gap
Finalized Prototype
Primary Pieces
There are seven primary pieces. Each one has a loop, button, magnet, and snap. The primary pieces are used to build connections with other pieces and secondary pieces.
Secondary Pieces
There are five kinds of secondary pieces. These include: a snap string (two per set), a button string (two per set), a button attachment (five buttons on each attachment), a magnet attachment (ten of these per set), and a snap and string attachment. These primary and secondary pieces can be connected in any way.
Ways to Play
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