Assignment rundown

For this assignment we are assigned an age group to work with but can pick whichever medium or style of toy that we want to create for this category. For this assignment I picked the category of 7+ year olds (sort of range from 7-12) so I am researching toys designed for this group.

For the first lesson we discussed the history of toy creation and went to explore stores selling toys, I will post the photos I took up in the next post by category. Some of the common tactics/genres I noticed for my age groups are as follows:

• plushies - teaches compassion and caring for kids, soft and for wide range of ages
• group collectibles (i.e. blockheads and pokemon toys or heroes groups - desire to collect them all but with the intention of playing with them ).
• construction toys - either for buildings or vehicles, transformers/robots, tanks, space objects etc (brands like meccano, lego, lazer cut wooden toys, glueable models).
• action figures or dolls with a lot of accessories (weapons, hair, vehicles, clothes etc) or moving components. (i.e. soldier and arsenal, bratz dolls, hero toys etc)
• Figures with backstory  - TMNT, Teen Titans, Star Wars, how to train your dragon etc
• widespread age group series of toys - i.e. transformers and star wars has done this well, has figures that are technical for 8+ year olds and also provides figures designed for playschool age groups, and collectibles
• spinoffs and mixed brands - angry birds has done mashups with transformers and star wars - piggybacking on financial success of the game?
• situation and variety based - sylvanian families is a good example, their range features families in a dinner situation or a party situation or new family member situation etc, comes with the accessories and variety of animal families
• figures with changeable parts - this may be more  for collectors items but is usually a still figure with changeable heads, bodies, hairstyles or clothes
• creativity based toys - play doh, jewelery making or painting and sewing kits etc, sometimes construction kit and materials are sold separately so needs restocking. Qixels combines both a weapon toy and joinable beads as the art component. Could include educational toys on messing around toys like kinetic sand, or putty toys.
• Weaponry - personal and game based or weaponry related to a specific character in a game or series - nerf, masks or armour, minecraft weapons etc
• Dolls/figures based on games or directly on living persons - there are even toys made in the likeness or alias of popular gamer youtubers now
• disturbing/gross versions of cute things - (i.e. scary plushies or figurines) may appeal to boys or children in general who arent that interested in cutesy toys
• vehicles - toy cars/tanks etc
• puzzles or board and strategy games - scrabble, cluedo, UNO, mousetrap etc

Some of these are ideas or categories to consider when choosing a toy brand or purpose and marketing perspective. There are often secondary links to the toys like online registering or a game or comic linked with it to immerse the buyer moreso. I also need to consider what material to use - vinyl, 3D printed plastic, resin based mold, sculpting with sculpey/other, sewn plushie etc. On top of that packaging design is important and could incorporate a common colour or theme of the character or series.