Our group made a rocking chair that is designed to help children ages 3-6 with motor skill development. It is a multifunctional piece that will not only be a chair but a play toy as well. 

Our goal was to make furniture for the Montessori school that was multi-funcational and also able to cater to different age groups. All the furniture needed to be made directly for children and the children needed to be able to move the furniture by themselves. 

This project is important because a child should learn both mentally and physically. When learning about the Montessori teaching method, we saw a lot about movement. The children were encouraged to get up, play, and travel around the classroom. We also saw a lot about self-awareness. Our design’s rocking motion is recreational, but it also can help a child be aware of their body.  As the child plays on the chair, they are learning to balance and navigate their surroundings. 

AquaCycle Maze: a toy maze that teaches children, ages 4-8, about the process of recycling and the impacts of man-made waste on the earth. This game coaches children in hand-eye coordination, navigation, patience, and problem-solving skills.

Each year humans dump around 17.6 billion pounds of plastic waste into our oceans. It is estimated that by 2050 ocean plastic will outweigh all of the ocean's fish. Due to these alarming statistics, it is anticipated that the job of ocean recycling will flourish in the future. The AquaCycle not only teaches kids about the positive contributions that can be done to change our trash-filled oceans but also familiarizes them with the job of ocean recycling; it has six sides with six different categories. One side is the trash pick-up place in which the user of the toy will start the maze on this side and bring the trash to other mazes. Four of the sides consist of different recycling stations that show the specific processes of recycling materials such as aluminum, glass, plastic bottles/containers, and paper. Lastly, the final side is another portal that leads back into the ocean. This last side is intended to show that some waste is not recyclable and will, unfortunately, remain in our oceans forever. The toy is played with by going through each maze and distributing the trash to its equivalent recycling. 

Danehy Park Project: Aveen Nagpal, Chiara Blissett, Christopher Kitchen, Declan McEnerney, Ella Giesser, Ethan Donaldson, Maddie Johnson-Harwitz, Max Colognesi, Nathan Berger, Pierre Belizaire, Richie Lourie, Tinna Grönfeldt

(Refined) Pipe Dreams: Aveen Nagpal, Chiara Blissett, Christopher Kitchen, Ella Giesser, Maddie Johnson-Harwitz, Richie Lourie, Tinna Grönfeldt