My target user is a child between the ages of 5 and 15. The idea for my plush night light is to make interactive toys that resemble common fruits and vegetables but with totally wacky and unique colors. For this example, I made an avocado that is teal with a pit also in teal. Further designs will have multiple lights that twinkle and flash on and off in a way that mimics starlight. I wanted to make a night light that aided children in falling asleep but didn’t explicitly tie back to a more traditional form of clouds, stars, and the moon.
For this prototype, I used two similar colors of light fleece fabric, teal thread, foam beads, a ping pong ball, as well as two green LED lights, wires, 220 ohm resistors, heat wrap tubing, three AAA batteries, a battery pack.
In my initial prototype, I made the drawing for my avocado to be way too small. And I made the mistake of making it the exact size that I wanted the toy. After sewing, the top was way too pointy and it just looked off. So for this, I went and got a yard of fabric and made the toy much larger. This was a really fun assignment and it definitely made me think of toy construction in a different way.
If I had more time to work on this project, I would improve the sewing. Closing the toy proved difficult for me and it’s sloppier than I would have liked. Also, I would push the toy to be more dynamic of a shape.
