Crit on 28th Oct

Matrix

So what i did was to put these products in the previous posts in a matrix with the axes "electrical-physical" and "simple skills-advanced skills" and i realised there is a gap over there at the physical toys requiring more advanced skills, which was what i had set out to do anyway. i'm fine with using electrical parts actually just that they have to applied in a useful and meaningful way. We'll see how it goes.

Existing Solutions

Sound Cylinders

Kids are supposed to match the red cylinder with the blue cylinder which produces identical sound. A new form of pairing game but i guess it can get pretty boring for a while unless the kids are rather young. i like the form though.

Musini

This is similar to Sound Candy below. The sensors in this toy can pick up vibration from the movement of kids and translate them into sounds of different styles.

AMK

Modular sound blocks targeted at preschool kids. Each module can play different sounds.

Loss Proof Sounding Ball

This ball will sound when it is still and will become silent when it is in motion. i feel that this has the potential to be quite an irritating toy.

Boomwhackers

Each tube plays a note. Made of tough and colourful plastic. i feel that they are more like instruments rather than toys, though it's definitely an easy instrument to pick up and is extremly fun especially when played in a group. And you can use them to play your compositions, like this amazing group of people playing Bumblebee with Boomwhackers.

Rainbow Sound Blocks

Wooden shapes with a window containing beads of different types and they can be fitted within the frame.

Sound Candy

This is rather cool. This furry device can record sounds and then play back this recorded sound in different forms when in different modes as a response to the signals from the sensors. The sensors in it are sensitive to vibrations and accelerations from movements.

Light and Sound Funky Footprints

Simple toy, most probably for toddlers. As the name suggests, the kid is supposed to step on the footprints which produces light and sound when you step on them and the aim is to reach the end. i guess this is useful as a kind of motivation for kids when they are learning to walk.

Neurosmith Music Blocks

Neurosmith is apparently a reputable company when it comes to toys. So this product allows the kids to compose music with the blocks and at the same time experimenting with the colours, shapes and sequences.

Playground @ Pasir Ris Park

There's a sonic playground at Pasir Ris Park too but this one is quite different from that at One North.

This one is not that educational and basically just offers the kids a chance to play or rather make some noise with these bells and drums.
And the playground is mostly made of plastic, which is vastly different from that at One North. But this doesn't offer much and it seems that kids are bored by it after a while.
i feel that the playground here is a bit static and kids dun have a sustained interest in what is offered here.
i used to be afraid of climbing this spiderweb. Being a spiderweb means that the whole thing is kind of inter-connected and one kid jumping vigourously on it can make everyone panic.
A bridge made of rubber which means jumping on it can cause quite a bit of reaction to the whole bridge. It looks really simple but it can be really exciting.
The merry-go-round for the current young generation. You know it'll be fun just by looking at it.
A some sort of course-based playground. Kids can set just a simple rule of "not touching the ground" and have endless hours of fun on it, speaking from experience that is.

Playgrounds that are more popular among the kids are those that offer more excitement and those that they can enjoy with their companions.

tapTap

tapTap from Andy Huntington on Vimeo.

Pretty amazing toy that i'll love to own. Each box has its own memory, enabling playback of rhythm. It's fun and interactive and can most probably keep one entertained for a long time. But it's not so much of sound exploration though. i'll like to see how it will sound like when they are stacked in one big pyramid.

http://extraversion.co.uk/2004/taptap/

Sonic Playground @ One-North

So i went to this sonic playground at One-North at Buona Vista. The playground is actually part of a more conventional playground situated in a park like environment within this mega research centre. As can be seen in the picture, there are kids from a child care centre playing at the playground but none of them are actually playing with the sonic playthings. So why is that the case?

There are a total of 3 sonic facilities over there, namely 1. telephone tubes, 2. communal drum and 3. parabolic dish.
The telephone tubes has a pretty simple concept. If you speak at one end of the blue tube, the other party at the other end of the blue tube would be able to hear you even though you are a distance away, and that is the similar case for the red tubes. This is because the sound waves are able to travel through the tubes. I have actually seen this telephone tubes at a playground in Hougang before.
This pic above shows the communal drums. As can be seen, the seat and the drum are made of highly reflective metal. The table and the seats are hollow so they produce sounds like a drum when it is hit. The aim of this drum is for kids to create their own rhythms together. It was a sunny afternoon when i was at the playground and naturally this whole set of metal drums was hot to the touch, which most probably explains why no one was playing with it.

The parabolic dishes are huge but the instructions on how to play with it is not very clear, at least to me. i didn't get the instructions although when i tried it, it was obvious that the dishes amplify the sounds that i've made when i was between them.

From http://www.one-north.sg/playground.aspx,

These interactive equipments can make and manipulate sounds which demonstrate acoustics, science, and physics and also promote cognitive development through manipulation, experimentation and imagination.

Some benefits of these equipments as follow:

-Besides being an interactive sonic equipment, it introduces the beauty of sculpture as the forms are unique;

-It encourages group activities which could promotes team building, cooperation and coordination among their peers; and

-Children can experiment the behavior of the sound by playing it in different ways;

i'm not so sure about what is the age range of the target users for the sonic playground but i feel that the playground is not very intuitive, so that was why nobody was playing with it when i was there and the instructions are definitely too difficult for the kindergarten kids to understand.