Crawl After Fox - Internship (Fall 2017)
I interned on the Infant Toy Team during my time at Fisher-Price. Project objective was to design a cause and effect, crawl-after toy for infants. I was very excited when my fox idea was selected for the category.
First Round of Iteration
During the exploration phase, I tried out frogs, hedgehogs, cats, and chickens.
Second Round of Iteration
Initially, the focus groups selected the hedgehog as the favorite; however, the walking mechanism performed poorly on carpet surfaces compared to wheels. The wheels looked best on the fox concepts.
Round 2.5
The fox idea caught on well, and I went back and forth between if it looked best with wheels or traditional walking. With the help from engineering, we selected wheels to move forward to the prototyping phase.
Modeling and Engineering
At this point in the model process, I left to return to my spring semester at Auburn, still keeping in touch with my team and mentors as they finalized the design.
Crawl After Learning Fox was launched in January 2019 and named an Amazon Choice toy
Skills developed by the Crawl-After Learning Fox:
Gross Motor Skills: Phrases and sounds encourage baby to crawl after the fox as it rolls away.
Understanding Cause & Effect: Touching the fox causes it roll away, and touching the buttons starts the songs, alphabet, and numbers content.
Tactile & Sensory: These were engaged by the plush face and crinkle tail. Babies are excited by the new textures and sounds.
Multiple development levels: Turn the front wheel to change the play settings from sit and spin, to crawl after play for more active crawlers.
The Crawl-After Learning Fox was discontinued at the end of 2021 - the toy industry, like fashion, changes quickly with consumer interest. It was a joy to work on this toy.