Toy Tuesday: The Next Generation

I've been fortunate to establish a relationship with Professor Susan Chuang at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario, which is about an hour outside Toronto. Prof. Chuang runs an annual "Next Generation of Toys" contest in her Developmental Studies class, where about 200 students are challenged to create new toy concepts that are appropriate for children 0-24 months old.

My recent visit to the Guelph campus to see the toys being presented was both interesting and fun. In many respects, the students, who had no real background in toys, did a lot of things as well as toy industry veterans. In particular, there were some students who were excellent presenters and could have easily persuaded parents to buy their toys. Whether or not they could effectively persuade toy buyers, though, is another story, because the rules are quite different in that world.

The themes and play patterns among the dozens of toys presented met the course's objective of incorporating strong child development attributes. While there was a lot of repetition among the contestants, there were a few toys that really stood out with innovative form factors and play patterns, and that could be commercially viable. I'm excited to be following up with some of the students to explore opportunities to present their items to real toy companies, and am grateful to Prof. Chuang for her warm welcome. With some hard work and some luck, you may see some of these toys on the market some day.