The Corn Popper, a toy for children 12-36 months old, is similar to a walker. Children hold it up and push it along while walking, and as the wheels turns it creates a popping sound. It is composed of multiple parts including two red wheels, a blue handle to push it, multiple different sized balls, and a clear plastic shell to store the poppers. The corn popper is used to support children while they are learning how to walk, and still have fun while doing so. While using this product, the goal for children is to develop their physical skills. Our goal for this project was the redesign a Corn Popper for children with a certain disability. My partner and I added a third "wheel" or "kick stand" part to aid to the needs of children with gross motor disabilities. 

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The first step in this process was to pick what type of disability we wanted our toy to support. We chose gross motor skills because that was one of the development areas advertised by the toy. Children with this type of disability struggle with walking and are typically clumsy or trip a lot. A new design of this product would give us the opportunity to address difficulty walking and bending for kids who have gross motor disabilities. The theme of this toy is “Where development comes into play." Our corn popper is used to strengthen their walking skills. 

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My partner and I decided that the best way to tend to this need is by making the corn popper stand up by itself. The original toy did not stand by itself, so it would have been difficult for children with gross motor disabilities to support themselves well enough to walk with the toy. We chose to add a tennis ball to the back of the toy so the child is given extra support.

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We had to completely take the toy apart to be able to add the tennis ball into it. First we used a band saw to cut a slit at the top of the tennis ball. Then we drilled a hole directly opposite of that on the other side of it. This allowed us to stick our fingers through it to put a bolt in the hole that we drilled into the ball. Next we drilled a hole through the back of the white casing so we could screw in a nut to the bolt which would hold the tennis ball in place. 

 

Our goal was to make the toy be able to support the weight of children while walking so they did not have to hold themselves up. This still allowed the child to develop better balance and walking skills because they were still required to push the toy while walking.