Project 4: Biographical Toy

 Materials

Some pieces

Final Outcome

Reflection Paper

          When we were given the assignment to create a biographical toy for our final project, a lot of ideas popped into my mind. After considering some different ideas, I focused on recreating a toy similar to my favorite one from when I was a child; a marble maze. When I was in elementary school, one of my best friends had plastic pieces that connected together to make a path for marble to travel on. Every time I went over her house, all I ever wanted to do was build with this toy. It is one of the first toys that comes to mind when I think about my childhood, and I wanted to do my best to replicate it.

          While looking for recyclable objects to use, I came across all of my old Legos. These were other toys I loved to build with when I was younger, so I chose to incorporate these in my project as base structures. I then decided on a deck of cards to make the pathways for my marbles to travel on. I wanted something that was sturdy yet flexible. I also used old pencils that I found around my house to help hold the structure at various levels. To hold the project together I used hot glue and tacks. Finally I put the marble maze on a piece of foam board to keep the toy strong while it was being used. This gave it support so it would not fall over when the marbles were traveling through out the pathways.

          I was very satisfied with the outcome of my toy. I believe it relates back to my childhood a lot, and I even found myself playing with it many times before it was due. This is a toy that I could see a lot of people having fun with. I received many comments from my suite mates about how they wanted to play with it also. Overall I had fun in creating my final project, and it was one of my favorites this semester as well as the class!