copyright University of Minnesota,
all rights reserved, 2013

In 2012 Toy Product Design was taught at both the University of Minnesota and MIT. The theme for 2012 UMN was track-based motion. Manhattan Toy sponsored the class and worked closely with the students. Students play tested their concepts throughout the semester at Minnesota Children's Museum.

There were five toy prototypes presented at the PLAYsentations on Wednesday May 2, 2012. Click the icons above for more information. These product prototypes include:

Twistin Tower - a board game that involves spining layers of a tower to get your marbles to the bottom
Honey Runner - a hand-held dynamic puzzle where players try to navigate "bee" marbles through a maze
Marble Snap - a set of connector clips that allow you to turn trash into marble runs
Rock n Record - record sounds on different track and spin the record in different ways to play them back
Stack Track - a vertical marble run composed of solid wood blocks with internal grooves and connectors

To see the some stages of the design process for these toys visit the Ideas, Sketch Models, and Design Consulting pages.