The Art and Craft of Toy Design: Animaland in progress

AnimaLand
By Alexis Lloyd, Ana Velez, and Dave Pasquel

Welcome to AnimaLand. This wireless plush toy allows children ages 3-5 to interact with stuffed animals and an amimated screen-based environment in order to learn about animals.

This is how it works. Within each plush animal there is an RFID card. When the animal is placed on the gaming platform, the RFID card reader that is within the platform reads the RFID card tag of the plush animal. This card reader is attached to a computer via USB where it interfaces with a FLASH application to control a screen-based character and environment.

For example, when the lion plush toy is placed on the platform, an African safari landscape is illustrated on the computer screen and the sound of a lion roaring plays. Then the animated narrator asks you what the lion eats. If you then put the steak plush toy on the platform, the narrator acknowledges that is a correct choice and shows a photograph of a lion eating meat. If you put any other food toy on the platform, the narrator responds that this is an incorrect choice and prompts you to guess again.

This toy is to help children learn about animals and their environments, and to create associations between animals and their eating habits. The toy is modular, so it could include more animals or be expanded to teach children about other subjects as well, making the possibilities of this platform nearly limitless.

Sketches