Tag Archives: children’s

This biodegradable children’s building block game is made entirely from recycled rice husks

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Rice Husk Village is a modular toy game made entirely from discarded rice husk waste.

On a yearly basis, around 120 million tons of rice husks are discarded worldwide. The husk is the plant material that covers rice grains, which is ultimately discarded because humans do not digest it. highly resistant to natural degradation, rice husk has a large dry volume due to their low-bulk density and rough surfaces.

Designer: Subin Cho

Looking at this issue from an environmentalist’s perspective, designer, Subin Cho conceptualized a children’s toy called Rice Husk Village made entirely from rice husk to turn agricultural waste into meaningful products that can ultimately be composted back into the ground.

Cho notes, “Rice husk has large dry volume due to its low bulk density and possesses rough and abrasive surfaces that are highly resistant to natural degradation.” From an environmental perspective, this reveals why rice husks can be difficult to dispose of, but from a designer’s perspective, this plant material is ideal for creating products like the Rice Husk Village.

Constructed and molded from rice husks, the Rice Husk Village is comprised of shaped modules that stack together to form villages. Three different building types allow users to create different city fabrics, from skyscraper-filled skylines to small villages. A four-legged bridge, tree modules, and stairs also come with Rice Husk Village so users can really create their own unique toy village.

Cho’s design also features a balance tray that users can build their villages atop as an interactive game. The game’s initiative is to create a well-balanced, and bustling village fabric from the toys blocks made from rice husks.

If the village topples over to one side on the balance tray, then whoever touched the last block loses, in a similar fashion to the game Jenga. Considering the rice husk modules, the toy blocks are biodegradable and safe for the human body to consume on the off chance your toddler is getting a little chewy.

Children can even add a touch of greenery to their miniature village replicas. 

Once play time is over, the building blocks can be put back into the earth to be composted. 

Similar to the game of Jenga, Rice Husk Village is a stacking game. 

Children will have an array of different modular toy blocks to choose from when constructing their village.

The post This biodegradable children’s building block game is made entirely from recycled rice husks first appeared on Yanko Design.

Silicone finger grips in this snack box ensures your kids can eat without a mess!

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Monchi is a compressible snack box with a silicone lid that comes with integrated finger grips for kids to eat with their hands without making a mess.

There are only two types of people in the world: the ones who lick their fingers after a meal, and the ones who look for the nearest sink. While I fall into the latter category, the urge to eat with my hands is real. Finger foods like cookies and fries have always been a crowd favorite, but they’re messy too.

Monchi, a hygienic silicone-based snack box, developed by A Nus Design Studio features built-in finger grips so you can eat with your hands without the mess.

Tailored for children aged three and up, Monchi is as parent-friendly as it is kid-friendly. Featuring a flexible, silicone lid, the integrated finger grips stretch to fit hands and fingers of all sizes.

Just beneath the silicone lid, Monchi has a leak-proof and airtight food container that holds snack-sized items for kids to enjoy anywhere. From picnics to school lunches, Monchi packs some fun into eating so kids will never skip their veggies.

Once snack time is over, Monchi’s silicone build allows for easy cleanup. Compressible by design, the food container can shrink in size to fit into small storage spaces, even your front pocket.

The finger-grip lid allows users to slip their fingers into each slot, allowing free range of motion to pick up food items inside the container. Constructed from food-grade silicone and polypropylene plastic, Monchi is BPA-free and made from materials that are safe for kids of all ages to be around.

Designer: A Nus Design Studio

Even below the lid, Monchi’s design is fun for kids to play with.

Following an involved ideation process, Monchi reached its final form. 

The post Silicone finger grips in this snack box ensures your kids can eat without a mess! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This modular furniture system designed for kids is built to be play-friendly!

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My NooK is a modular furniture system designed for kids to use as their own customizable playground, with plenty of modules and colors to choose from.

You don’t have to have kids to know they make a playground of every room in the house. The cushions are boulders, the lampposts are trees, and the floor, of course, is lava. We’ve all been that age when anything goes, no holds barred. Designed by Olivia and Patrick Rudomino, My NooK is an expandable and customizable furniture system that was created to quench the need for play.

Covering the full spectrum of colors and shapes, each module that comprises My NooK comes in practically every color under the sun and any shape you can imagine, from orange slices to tree logs. The beginnings of My NooK formed close to home for the Australian couple. Spurred by their own children’s imagination and creativity during playtime while locked down due to the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, My NooK was created by the Rudominos as a source of endless entertainment for their kids.

Citing the inspiration behind the modular furniture system, the Rudominos note on their website, “Their new play seemed to involve every piece of household furniture, cushion, every pillow, and blanket…This led to a revamp of our living and play area where we trawled the web for a proper solution – something that allowed our children creative freedom, encouraged independent play, and was safe and [cozy] too.”

Hoping to create a modular furniture system that didn’t just take up space in the house, but complemented the living room and opened it up during playtime. Answering the need for outdoor furniture as well as indoor, My NooK is upholstered with water-resistant fabric from Australia’s Warwick Fabrics. Being made from water-resistant material, MyNooK means playtime could flow from the living room to the poolside without the worry of ruining the couch.

Designers: Olivia Rudomino and Patrick Rudomino

The possible configurations of MyNooK are endless.

Water-resistant by design, My NooK could even be taken outside.

The post This modular furniture system designed for kids is built to be play-friendly! first appeared on Yanko Design.

Magnetic, modular instruments join together to help kids produce their own music!

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Music is a language in and of itself, it’s hard to learn, let alone produce. Thankfully, there are some schooling options to make learning music more accessible, however, that option comes later in life, and we all know learning a new language is easier when we’re young. Terrene Huang created Chorus, a modular, music-making product for kids between the ages of nine and thirteen in order to implement the whims of music production into everyday life for children.

The entire assembly of Chorus includes a guitar, microphone, piano, drum, live instrument, reverb, filter, EQ, and delay modules. With each instrument module, users can create loops within 16 beats. Additionally, the main module provides one-on-one interaction with an animated bird who doubles as the user’s instructor. This consistent visual helps young music-makers whenever trouble comes along with chord progressions or drum beats. This main module is the hub of the whole operation, providing module calibration, a volume slider, and a knob to adjust the tempo. By pressing the tempo knob, users access the rest of Chorus’s features, such as music production fundamentals like reverb and EQ. Mini-lessons keep children’s musical learning progression on track, helping to cognitively place the music production students, but Huang was careful to provide supplemental learning preferences. Children acquire skills and knowledge primarily through sensory learning, in this case: sight, touch, and sound. Chorus’s modular structure caters to sensory learners with its colorful and vibrant color scheme and the modules that are easily removable, stackable, and customizable. Each module also easily magnetizes to another and is color-coded, which only enhances the product’s intuitive design. In addition to the instrument modules, Chorus offers users the chance to incorporate audio effects, such as reverb, delay, EQ, and filter.

The combination of instrument modules and music studio capabilities is what sets this children’s product design above the rest on the market. By allowing children the chance to not only play music on real electronic instruments but also produce and mix that music in a comprehensible, manageable way, Chorus takes young learning seriously and helps to ensure that users also feel excited to learn.

Designer: Terrene Huang

This award-winning filmmaking toolkit is designed specifically for Young content creators!

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When it comes to kids and content creation, everyone seems to have an opinion. One side says that keeping children from technology would mean keeping them from learning the very tools that will inspire the future. While the other side urges children to stay away from smartphones and tablets because they keep kids from learning the fundamentals of childhood. Kid’o, a children-specific filmmaking toolkit, brings some compromise to that two-sided argument. Kid’o is a simple product design that provides today’s younger generations the chance to experiment with film and content creation without the added complexity that accompanies multi-functional cameras and online communities.

Receiving the 2020 Grand Prize award from K-Design, Kid’o affirms children’s dreams of filmmaking by providing the tools necessary in order to bring them to fruition all while prioritizing childhood’s playfulness. Based on the vibrancy of crayons, the final product is a colorful, detachable physical lens and smartphone holder. Using an app, children can pair a Kid’o lens and monitor using their parent’s or their own phone, so that the lens’s frame appears on the smartphone’s screen. By merging the product with the app, children have the chance to continue developing today’s ever-changing technological language on an interface that maintains the integrity of childhood. Features such as ‘Another Me’ and ‘Twin Me’ are similar to some of TikTok’s features and, as simple video effects, can easily transform any video clip. Once a video is created and tailored by a kid filmmaker, they have the option of sharing it with friends on the Kid’o app or other social media platforms, such as Instagram or YouTube.

Kid’o embraces simplicity in its user-friendliness and portability – kids can bring the lens and smartphone holder anywhere. The product also pays homage to a less techy and more present childhood by moving in time with the growing technology of today, while cultivating the creativity that instills within every child a desire to create. Kid’o takes children and their interests seriously by designing a space and product that inspires creative experimentations and responsible self-expression. This filmmaking tool kit designed specifically for children is not only a compromise but a distinct recognition of the changeability and cultivation of childhood.

Designers: Hanseul Kim, Junwon Ko, and Yeonjun Song