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The theme for Toy Product Design 2008 was toys that inspire or teach science and engineering. Throughout the semester the students collaborated with representatives from the Museum of Science, the MIT Museum, Hasbro, and high school students in the MIT-Lawrence program.

There were ten toy products presented at the Playsentation of 2008. The toys are coming soon. For more information, see the Toys 2008 page.

The theme for Toy Product Design 2007 was inexpensive manufacture in Brazil. We would like to thank our wonderful mentors including Stephanie Dalquist and Marcelo Coelho of D-Lab Brazil; Amanda Bligh, Bill Gajda, and Andrew Jeas of Hasbro, Beth Sullivan of IC3D, and Patrick Cunningham and his 1st and 2nd Grade class at Cambridgeport Elementary.

Seven toy products presented at the Playsentation of 2007.

There were seven toy products presented at the Playsentation of 2007. These products include:

Eggman and Friends - top-like creatures each with a special power
Design Team: Mindy Eng, Sarah Shivers, Chaitra Manjunatha, Matthew Bieniosek, Rebecca Smith and advisor Terry Gaige

Pirate Pals - friendly sea creatures that can be connected with foam tubes
Design Team: Cynthia Walker, Julie Arsenault, Dan Barclay, Jonathan Hsieh and advisor Mika Tomczak

Chanimals - plush animal toys that have interchangeable body parts
Design Team: Martin McBrien, Lisa Witmer, Rachel Kolesnikou-Lindsey, Adrianne Hee and advisor Ethan Crumlin

Flippin' Flyers - elastic propelled glider planes with adjustable/interchanging wings
Design Team: Joshua Jiricek, Maria Prus, Stephanie Yen, Francesca Demeo, Lisa Schlecht and advisor Andrew Carvey

Stack-It - a game of making the highest tower using different shaped pieces
Design Team: Lucas Hernandez-Mena, Christina Wright, Tiffany Tseng, Amy Magnuson, Diane Rak and advisor David Wallace

Roli Boli - happy spheres that are passed between players in an accordion tube
Design Team: Jennifer Sanchez, Nicolina Akraboff, Marty Skelton, Leslie Nachbar and advisor James Penn

Magnimals - animal parts that can be connected magnetically in fun new ways
Design Team: Lucas Hernandez-Mena, Christina Wright, Tiffany Tseng, Amy Magnuson, Diane Rak and advisor David Wallace

All student projects are displayed here with permission from the class.

The 2006 theme was toys to promote good dental hygiene. We had some fantastic mentors throughout the semester including dental hygienst Wendy Westford of MIT Dental, 2nd grade teacher Banke Owule of Fletcher Maynard Academy, Amanda Bligh and Brian Jablonski of Hasbro, David Meeker an expert in DFMA, and Ilya Vedrasco of Comparative Media Studies.

Five products presented at the Toy Design Final Presentation.

Each team began the toy-design process by creating concept drawings of three
different ideas for dental products. The team members then made sketch models,
which are quick and simple models used to test their ideas. With customer and
mentor advice, the teams then chose two of their ideas for which they further
developed the most critical design elements. Finally, each team made an alpha
prototype of their best concept that worked and looked like a real product.

Five Products were presented at the Toy Design Final Presentation.  These products include: 

R2D2ooth - ejects Light Saber-like toothbrush that illuminates when in use
Red Team: Harry Lichter, Mario Bollini, Megan Roberts, Roberto Velazquez, Rebecca Romatoski, Tammy Tasoff

Flava-Rama - mix your own toothpaste flavor
Blue Team: Karlen Ruleman, Mark Cote, Michelle Lustrino, Jiang Wei Zhu

Harry Potter's Magical Toothbrush - make your toothbrush levitate
Yellow Team: Dave Held, Ellann Cohen, Qinyuan Liu, Rebecca Smith, Ricky Diaz

The BatCave - hang all of your Batman-style dental products upside down
Green Team: Andi Greb, Andrew Greenhut, Chris Grossman, Heather Felix, Lauren Nowierski

FlossZilla - all-in-one floss and paste dispenser with brush holder
Purple Team: Brian Hack, Chris Casiano, Jennifer Moore, Jean Shon, Somin Lee

These student projects are displayed here with permission from the class.