A toy will satisfy children by solving the problem they are facing, and at the same time satisfy the parents. Toys are evolving in a way that better satisfies both the market’s demanders and the actual buyers. As the functional specialization of toys becomes more professional and concrete, the new kind of toy needs to be redefined, beyond simply “Toy,” as “Problem Solver.”
A toy equipped with a problem-solving function for a specific target group — that is a Solver-Toy.
A solver-toy is literally a toy that “solves problems.” The way it does so may vary depending on the toy’s purpose and characteristics, but the essence — solving a problem that children and parents have — is the same. And in that moment, both the child playing with the toy and the parent experience satisfaction. Therefore, a solver-toy is distinguished from other one-off entertainment toys in that it is an auxiliary tool that helps with problem-solving. Moreover, rather than blandly satisfying an unspecified mass of children, it deliberately engages with children’s dispositions and traits and the problems that arise from them, and delivers special satisfaction to a finely segmented target.
1.
Children often can’t calm their own excess energy. Sometimes that very liveliness means they struggle to fall asleep even late at night. In these cases, this is not only a problem for the child, but a major worry for the parents as well. Recently, a Minnie Mouse doll that helps such children sleep has emerged in Japan. It’s Hug and Dream Minnie Mouse.
http://www.japantrendshop.com/hug-and-dream-minnie-mouse-p-1517.html?a_aid=7a684d8f
Toy designer Takara Tomy, in collaboration with researchers at Showa University Medical School who study perception and breathing, developed a doll whose mechanism evokes restful sleep through the Minnie Mouse doll. This doll breathes, moving slowly at a steady rhythm, so that when the child goes to bed and hugs it, they can fall asleep in sync with it. Unlike existing Disney characters, this Minnie uses brown and purple to help calm children’s minds significantly.
This toy draws attention first because it solves one of the important issues for children: “sleep.” Beyond children who are too energetic to sleep, there are many who are afraid to sleep alone, or who just don’t sleep as well as they should. Sleeping well is crucial for children both physically and mentally, and it’s certainly a major issue for child and parent alike. Hug and Dream Minnie is valuable precisely because it solves this problem in a very practical way. The second point is that the function is built into a character doll. Children tend to attach to character dolls more than to many other toys; seeing something that resembles them somehow, they feel a sense of kinship and nurture affection for it. That’s why the character doll, as the medium closest emotionally to the child, becomes an effective tool for solving the “sleep” problem — more so than almost any other toy. And in actual observation, it was found that the more attached children got to the Minnie Mouse, the stronger the effect became.
2.
The main function of Auti is to help autistic children communicate with others through positive play activities. Its developer, Andreae, discovered that autistic children have reduced ability to control their own voice and body, and therefore struggle to interact smoothly with other children. To improve this social interaction in autistic children, Andreae worked with child specialists to develop Auti. Basically, Auti was built with sensors that detect sound and touch, so that it stops in response to negative behaviors like shouting and hitting, and reacts positively to soft words and gentle handling. In other words, by watching Auti react differently to their actions, children learn to behave more softly and positively toward others. Also, because Auti looks and moves like an animal, autistic children find it more engaging and can develop their imagination.
As a solver-toy, Auti hints at the possibility that toys can evolve beyond solving fragmentary problems for children into a tool of specialized therapy. At first glance it might look as though Auti isn’t fundamentally treating autism, just addressing a slice of the problem. But when you consider that while autism arises from biological causes in the brain and so on, the actual problem is the difficulty of social life caused by not being able to smoothly exchange with others, then Auti should be seen as “treating” autistic children in the sense that it helps them interact with neurotypical people. Even though Auti is not a medical device, it suggests that solver-toys can serve as more professional problem-solving tools by changing emotional and behavioral issues in a child. Based on this possibility, we can predict that toys will be used actively in the medical field going forward. Especially if we leverage the fact that a particularly special bond is formed between children and toys — more so than with any other object — we might be able to resolve psychological and mental difficulties in children far more smoothly.
To this →
1. Add a feature that lets the child speak their worries, which are then relayed to their parents or recorded like a diary.
2. In addition, make it able to measure body temperature and the like, so the child’s health status can be understood.
3. Let it store music from parents or elsewhere, making it feel more familiar.
4. Let each child speak to it, and collect that data.
Store the answers to each question so it can respond appropriately when needed.
5. Read the child’s psychological state through heartbeat, movement, or body temperature, and
play an appropriate comment or piece of music for that state.
