2016

EduPacks

EduPacksNot all children aged between 3-7 Years have access to pre-school activities and or equipment to develop their early childhood development. Set within rural communities the focus is on bringing functional design and future building blocks to stimulate this pre learning phase through interactive workbooks, storage/play systems early development is easily accessible, understandable and achievable.

Initiated through Steve Myhill, Design Center embarks on taking this concept further by letting students identify and engage with communities that may benefit from the initiative.

THE BRIEF

The objective and main focus of this initiative is to bring fundamental building blocks to junior and pre-primary children that stimulate pre-maths and creative logical problem solving. Solutions need to stimulate creative thinking and learning through play. Solutions need to be cost effective and tangible and be able to be transported and stored effectively in various environments.

Students need to consider at least one workbook, interactive stationery and an appropriate storage application that not only houses all items but interacts with them as well.

THE PROCESS

Students worked as one large group to define where education packs could function in various parts of the community. These were broken down into specific target areas:

Educator packsMake shift crècheEducating at workLanguage barrier.Students then grouped themselves to suit one of these target areas and brainstorm as suitable solution to combat these problem areas.

A main focus of all groups needed to incorporated a noticeable sustainable idea or material that would have room to grow as their products would be implemented.

Bag Closed

Bag Open

Logo

The bag is made out of transparent plastic as well as canvas

Handles

The concept behind the brand’s identity is learning through play and is exemplified by the hopscotch play mat.

Storage for the chalk & white boards

The OUTPUTSEDUCATOR PACKThe aim of the product is to provide tools that help educate the facilitators in a fun and interactive way and in turn both the child and educator are learning.

This is a listening tape that has recordings of how to use the exercise book as well as nursery rhymes and sounds.

Workbook

Poster elements

Bag Open

Match the letter with the object and the word.

The target age group is for children 3-4 years.

LANGUAGE BARRIER“Sundry's Adventure pack” has been specifically designed to overcome language barriers in the community. Sustainable and functional our pack takes the children on an exciting adventure including activities and exercises that help develop their language skills.

Book Bag Back Pack Abacus

This pack is specifically designed for 5-6 year old children who are about to embark on their school career and make sure they are adequately prepared.

Exercises

CLASSROOM IN A BOXThe aim of the project is to help 5-6 year old children at the Peace Loving Daycare educate themselves through an interactive “classroom in a box”. Each exercise, whether on the box or in the allocated bags focuses on the milestones as well as the skills that preschoolers are expected to have at this age.

Shapes come out

Chalk board

Storage inside

Educational activities

Felt faces & beads for counting

Lid folds out into a table

Shoes to learn to tie laces

Educational activities

Each sack focuses on a different learning area and has an animal to go along with it to make them familiar and fun, as well as create an overall image of a proudly African Brand

MAKE SHIFT CRÈCHE

Zumba's Adventure addresses the needs for an interactive and educational storage for a group of 15 children between the ages of 3-7 with a special focus on 4 year olds, all part of Mary’s Orphanage located within Orange Grove.

The aim is to create an educational storage system that is fun and interactive and based on the big five animals and safari theme. Each animal is linked to an activity with the lion being in charge, i.e. Zuba.

EDUCATING AT WORK

The objective is to create an educational bag, called ‘Buddy the Bird’, that would help and motivate the learning of a child, that accompanies their parent to work. The bag should achieve basic milestones in the learning of a child of 3 years of age.

Along with the interactive bag, there should be some sort of educational books for the child to engage with, as well as an answer book for the parent.

Story book Play book

Parent bookPlay book II

The Bag Design

Components- 90% PVC Canvas- 9% Plastic Bags- 1% Velcro

Function-Waterproof-Durable-Bird Character-Easy maintenance-Contains games and books

The Bag Design

The Book Design

The Games Design

EVALUATION

Overall the students tackled this project quiet well. Students out of their own initiative sourced actual communities and conducted site visits to gain more information and a clearer view of what to design and what approach to take. This made the project and the scope of the project more direct and the end products fit for purpose.

Some groups struggled with group dynamics, this was largely due to groups having multiple first year students amongst them and therefore the final design solutions were not as strong as other groups. However they showed that they are more than capable of managing a group and working around technical constraints such as computer knowledge.