Tabtoys 2-in-1 furniture that grows with children

• Main Authors: Hilmi, Hanisah, Raja Abdul Rahman, Raja Intan Suhaylah, Abdul Rahman, Julaila
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English; English; English; English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: NB1160 Design and technique
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/95874/1/TABTOYS%20POSTER%20PDF.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95874/10/IID2021110.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95874/7/AICAD%202021%20POSTER%20COMPETITION%20UPDATED.jpeg; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95874/8/25_Gold_IID2021110_Cert_tabtoys.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95874/9/25_Gold_IID2021110_Medal_tabtoys.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95874/; https://aicadofficial.com/aicad-iid-2021/

Children enjoy playing, communicating, exploring, and learning new things around them. They love to expose to toys, books, and other stuff, including furniture. Today, many children's furniture has limitations of function, where it cannot use for a long time for many growth phases of children, and it is less cost-effective. Thus, investing in furniture that grows along with the children can help save much money. The project aims to design furniture that grows with children for age 2-12 years old with 2 phases of age and functions: toys storage and activity table. The objectives are 1) To understand the user behaviour of kids towards children furniture, 2) To develop a design model for growing furniture, 3) To support the Goal 3; Good Health and Well-being and Goal 4; Quality Education and of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through the encouragement of children to explore and boost various skills including writing, playing, and organizing while using it. Simple observation and survey are done on 15 children, aged 2-12 years old, to understand their behaviour and preferences towards children's furniture. As a result, children are more attracted to colourful furniture with many functions. They also have high preferences on safety for furniture's design and material. 'Tabtoys' is a design model that developed with the concept of 'rotatable furniture' with several colour variations; yellow, light blue, and light pink to convey the cheerful style to suit kids' taste. The size is 630mm in length, 490mm in height, and 260mm in width in a toy storage position, while 630mm in length, 490mm in width, and 260mm in height in table position. The functions of the 'Tabtoys' furniture are different based on two age phases: 1) Phase 1; for 2 to 5 years old as toy storage to encourage children to value belongings, be independent and keep the area clean after playing, 2) Phase 2; for 6 to 12 years old as activity table to encourage children to explore while learning and enhance various skills with good postural control. The 'Tabtoys' furniture is considered safe in terms of its design and material, for example, curvy edges on all exposed sides and inward curves in contact with the user body to prevent discomfort and ache. 'Tabtoys' comes with lightweight and durable material for easy mobility, safety, and cost-effectiveness, such as polypropylene plastic. The 'Tabtoys' is suitable to use in home, kindergarten, schools, and care centres.