Nowadays, children drown in toys. The market for toys and children’s products is bigger than ever. But is this really necessary? Do children really need that much stuff to play with?

I wanted to create something to give children something to play with, only this time with minimal needs. My concept involves giving children just an idea and let them figure out the game themselves. It encourages enthusiasm and stimulates problem solving thinking. Giving it some more thoughts, I created two different projects with the same concept.

For this project I was interested by the creativity of children’s drawings. They contain so much value for adults; they don’t easily throw them away. On the other hand, gift wrapping paper is thrown away within seconds. I wanted to give this more value, make people appreciate it more and turn it into something which you will keep longer. I made a combination of these two thoughts.
Personal gift wrapping paper was the perfect answer; gift wrapping paper which children draw themselves. They can do this by using pencils, stamps, glue, markers or anything they want. There are three different rolls of paper for different ages.

6 years and over: This roll is filled with funny words which the child can draw. The words are easy to understand but at the same time trigger their imagination. Words like computer giraffe, balloon phone, peanut plane, tulip cloud and banana fork are all in there.

7 years and over: This paper shows lines and shapes already printed on the paper, which you’ll have to finish in your own way. This way, children get triggered to draw and use their own imagination.

8 years and over: On this plain, white roll of paper kids can let their imagination and fascinations go wild. Of course this is not easy, so the roll includes tons of ideas, tips and tricks to help you out when you get stuck.

This idea came to me when I walked into a toy store. I was overwhelmed with the choice of products and all the toys in there. So much is being produced every year and the market for normal toys as well as electrical toys for children is still growing. Is this really necessary? Does a child need the latest designed products? Can’t I just give children an idea to help them play with the stuff they already have? By asking myself these questions I began to think of a new concept; Speelposter.

The Speelposter; a poster full of games, crafts, tricks and much for fun things to do for children. I gathered a ton of games from friends, family, books, the internet and other places. I selected the ones which were fun, easy and relatively simple to do, make or play with and still would not bore you after a while. All the games on the poster can be done with something you’ll find in any household, so no need to buy new things!! On the poster you will find lots of fun things, all with different techniques and materials to do so. I believe using different techniques and designing it in a creative way, it will encourage children to do the same.

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