Tag Archives: toy design

Nini Amici Wooden Toy Set lets you make your own animals

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Nini Amici Toy Details

Wooden toys are way better than the plastic ones that are widely available. Design-wise, such wooden toy sets are more visually appealing with their classic look and feel.

The fact that wooden toys are sustainable and environmentally safe is a plus. They are more durable and are also safer for children. They say wooden toys are best for your child but remember that not all toys are made equal. Quality toys are hard to come by, so the search for them won’t be over until you no longer have a young kid at home.

Designer: Dingwerkstatt

Nini Amici Toys

NINI AMICI is a new set of small toys made of elmwood. There are only ten pieces, but the toy set is modular, so you can make more toys. It uses a magnetic connector system to attach different parts to make different animals.

Three base bodies can work as the tail, head, or hump. Kids can make most of the known animals, but you can also create new ones depending on the children’s imaginative play. You can call the pieces that connect with magnets as NINIs.

Nini Amici Wooden Toys

What’s more remarkable about the NINIs are the people who make them. The toys are made in Upper Franconia, Germany in a workshop for people with mental and physical disabilities. They are fairly produced and special because of the special people who make them.

The wooden toy set is ideal for people ages three and above. Even the adults will find joy in creating and playing with the NINIs. Make sure kids under 36 months don’t play with them as there are small parts that can be swallowed. The wooden parts have magnets, so you should also keep them away from people who wear defibrillators or pacemakers.

Nini Amici Wooden Toy Set

These wooden toys are very appealing with a minimalist aesthetic. We can consider them as user-configurable as it is up to the kids what animals they want to make. Looking at the suggestions in the booklet, we can see you can make a cat, a dinosaur, an alpaca, a goat, a camel, a dog, a giraffe, an elephant, and a goat.

Wooden Toys Nini Amici Set

A NINI AMICI WOODEN ANIMAL SET costs €85.00 which is about $93. Each wooden toy set contains three basic bodies in different sizes, seven body parts with magnets, one storage bag, and one booklet that shows examples. You can purchase from HERE. The only limit is your imagination, so go on and be creative.

Nini Amici Set

Nini Amici Set Design

The post Nini Amici Wooden Toy Set lets you make your own animals first appeared on Yanko Design.

IKEA x LEGO – the design collaboration of every child and adult’s dreams!

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Have you ever stepped on a LEGO piece and have your whole life flash before your eyes or are you normal? Kids love to play with LEGO blocks but always leave a mess, these boxes were designed to encourage storing their toys so you can feel safe about walking around the house like its not a land mine! So IKEA and LEGO teamed up to make storage bins, called BYGGLEK, that makes tidying up another fun game. The white boxes come in four sizes and can store hundreds of bricks and you can easily stack them up because they are made like giant LEGO blocks. “The box itself can be a house, a swimming pool, a sports arena – there is no right or wrong!” said Rasmus Buch Løgstrup, the Lego designer who led this project. The BYGGLEK range consists of one set of three small boxes, and two sets of bigger boxes and one set of LEGO bricks for the complete experience right from the moment you get your package.

The good part is that BYGGLEK can be used with any existing and future LEGO elements because of the thoughtfully placed studs on the lid and front which make it a part of the play system. The designers worked with child psychologists, who told them that children don’t see a pile of blocks on the floor like a mess; they see it as a creative environment – it is a stimuli for their imagination. So the parents needed an “out of the box” solution for cleaning/storage and who better to do that than IKEA – every adult’s happy place. “At IKEA, we always believe in the power of play. Play lets us explore, experiment, dream and discover.” said Andreas Fredriksson, designer at IKEA of Sweden, “Where adults often see a mess, children see a stimulating creative environment, and BYGGLEK will help bridge the gap between these two views to ensure more creative play in homes around the world. Plus, the BYGGLEK collection matches perfectly with other IKEA products, making it possible to have your children’s creativity becoming a nice and unique piece of decoration at home.” Works for all the residents of the real house and the toy house!

The two big boxes will come in a traditional IKEA flatpack and has been designed to be so simple to assemble that 5-year-olds will be able to do it. It comes with no instructions so kids can be as imaginative as like. IKEA will also sell a 201-piece LEGO brick set that has been specially curated by designers with less complex elements to ensure that even the youngest child could use them. The toys and design are rooted in a warm and cozy home life and include a little LEGO hot dog for a snack in case you get hungry! They’ll be available to buy throughout Europe and North America from October 1st, expanding to the rest of Ikea’s retail channels throughout the year.

Designer: IKEA and LEGO

ikeaxlego

This Inclusive Lighting Design Helps Improve The Sensory Development of Autistic Children

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From the combined creative minds of Shirin Amini and Farid Hatami comes a masterpiece, “Things”: a game therapy for kids, especially those diagnosed with Autism. At first glance, it’s quite a confounding piece of work, something which has the ability to pique your interest at once. It evokes a “tell me more” feeling within us. But here’s why “Things” truly caught our attention! Though it can be used as a handy bedside lamp or reading light for kids of all ages and helps them to recognize textures and colors, the designers took into consideration the needs of Autistic children, allowing “Things” to have a therapeutic effect on them. Not only that, it can be used by them for ‘sensory development’. It helps to strengthen their tactile and visual senses, in turn solidifying their interpersonal skills and social interactions.

The piece consists of four cubes created from different materials with varying textures. Shadowing the four cubes is a quadrilateral frame with a platform on which the cubes can be placed one by one. As the children play and interact with the cubes, they are introduced to the sensation of different textures and materials, and their sensitivity towards them is reduced or becomes more manageable. They begin to view light and textures not as jarring stimulants, but rather as soothing elements in their environment, allowing their senses to grow attuned to them.  As each cube is placed in the middle of the frame, a colored light is emitted from the frame, in response to the placement of the cube. Each cube is assigned a different color. For example: when the cube made of hard and polished wood is placed on the frame, a pale purple color is emitted from it. Whereas the concrete cube is paired with a pretty orange. The cube of soft textured cloth is represented by blue, and finally, the placement of the soft leather cube with a rough texture is followed by a soothing yellow light. Since bright and bold colors can be overwhelming for anyone with Autism, the designers have avoided using any intense colors. They have instead chosen a selection of mild and neutral colors, which do not trigger any sensitivities.

Simple, therapeutic and soothing, “Things” is the sort of play therapy than can be enjoyed by one and all. Of course, it has added benefits for children with Autism, enhancing their sensory development and helping them win their battle against textures!

Designers: Shirin Amini & Farid Hatimi