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Sam Student
April 20, 2014
Psych 41
Professor Snow
Psychology 41: Lifespan Psychology
Paper 1: Piaget and Toy Design
1) This toy is a toy that is recommended for children 6 months to 24 months. The toy is
called Playskool’s Busy Balls – Rhythm and Sounds. The toy consists of six different colored
balls that each have their own unique sound quality when played with. For instance, when the
child rolls or shakes a ball, he/she may hear sounds of a charming rattle, a delightful squeak,
fascinating rain, a crazy spring, a delightful bell, and a surprising roar. 2) Playskool’s Busy Balls
– Rhythm and Sounds is best suited for Piaget’s sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. 3)
This toy helps provide practice for an infant’s motor skills by allowing the infant to discover and
learn to utilize its senses and actions. The toy captivates the infant’s reflexes by getting the infant
to be captivated by the ball’s bright colors and lights, which allows the infant to exercise control
over its reflexes, such as looking. Playskool’s Busy Balls – Rhythm and Sounds allows for the
infant to gain an understanding of secondary circular reactions by making the infant interested in
manipulating the balls. The infant will be interested in manipulating the balls by learning what
functions the balls can serve. For instance, the infant will learn that you can roll, shake, and
make sounds with the balls; therefore, causing the infant to learn the many manipulations of the
ball. This toy will also be beneficial for the infant’s coordination of secondary schemas by
allowing the infant to learn how to solve new problems and goal-directed behavior. Since each
ball makes a different and unique sound, the infant will eventually learn that when he/she picks
up and shakes a particular ball it will make a distinct and desired sound. 4) I believe that this toy
is fun for an infant because it allows for the infant to be captivated by many different things. The
infant will have fun rolling the balls, looking at the different and vibrant colors of the balls, and
hearing the many different sounds of the balls that will make the infant laugh. 5) The toy is
child-friendly because the balls are the perfect size for the infant to grasp in its hands and is also
the perfect size that will not allow the child to swallow or choke on it.
1) This toy is a toy that is recommended for children ranging from 3 to 6 years old and it
is called the McDonald’s Drive-Thru with Play Food. It consists of a McDonald’s food cart that
comes with 20 accessories, drive up window with a cash register, and a real sounds french fry
maker. The toy works by propping up the McDonald’s food cart and setting up all the
accessories on top of the counter. 2) The McDonald’s Drive-Thru with Play Food is best suited
for Piaget’s preoperational stage of cognitive development. 3) This toy helps provide practice for
a child’s use of symbolic thought by allowing the child to learn and explore symbolic function,
deferred imitation, and pretend play. The McDonald’s Drive-Thru with Play Foods allows the
child to develop symbolic function through the use of the many accessories that come with the
toy. For instance, the child may use numbers to help represent the amount of fake money in the
cash register or the child may use words to represent the many different fake foods, such as
hamburgers, ice cream, and fries. This toy also helps to explore and practice deferred imitation
by allowing the child to recount and act out mental representations of the observed actions of
McDonald’s workers from the many trips that he/she has had to a McDonald’s. It is also
beneficial for a child’s pretend play because it allows for the child to be imaginative of
imaginary people and situations. For instance, the child may imagine that he/she is serving an
imaginary customer ice cream on a very busy day. 4) I believe that this toy is fun for a child
because it allows for the child to fully use his/her imagination. It lets the child act out his/her
own fantasies and bring them to life. 5) This toy is child friendly in the sense that it is the perfect
height for children allowing them to feel in control of their imaginary situation, but the little
accessories that come a long with the toy may serve as a choking hazard.
1) This toy is a toy that is recommended for children six years of age to fourteen years of
age. It is a twelve-inch globe called the Raised Relief Ocean Adventurer Globe. The globe works
by setting up the round map of the world on a rotating axis, which allows for the globe to be
rotated while browsing the many features of the round map. 2) The Raised Relief Ocean
Adventurer Globe is best suited for Piaget’s concrete operational stage of cognitive development.
3) This toy helps to provide practice for a child’s concrete operational skills by allowing the
child to think logically about concrete events and engage in inductive reasoning. The globe is
beneficial in the aspect that it will help improve a child’s understanding of maps. For example,
the child will learn that California is a long ways travel to China but the travel to Nevada from
California would be much shorter. The globe also helps to stimulate a child’s use of inductive
reasoning. For example, the child will come to the conclusions that the Philippines and Hawaii
are pieces of land surrounded by large bodies of water/ocean; therefore, they are both islands. 4)
I think that this toy can be fun for a child because it allows the child to the view and see the
world with its one eyes and thinking. The child will be able to be imaginative of different world
experiences apart from its own experiences at home. The child will also have fun looking at the
many geographic differences, such as large mountains and large bodies of water. 5) This toy is
child-friendly in the sense that comes already assembled and the lettering is big enough for a
child to clearly read what is on the globe.
1) This toy is a computer game that is recommended for adolescents thirteen years and
older. The computer game is called The Sims: Life stories and it works by installing the CDROM on a computer, which then takes the adolescent on journey of virtual life experiences using
the character that he/she has created. 2) This computer game is best suited for Piaget’s formal
operation stage of cognitive development. 3) The Sims: Life Stories helps to provide practice for
an adolescent’s abstract, moral, and ethical thought by allowing the adolescent to create a
character in which crucial decisions on life will have to be made. The adolescent will be exposed
to many life experiences and choices that will clearly put abstract, moral, and ethical thought into
play. For example, the adolescent will have to make a moral and ethical judgment on when
his/her character should get married and start a family, whether it is at a young or old age. The
adolescent will also be able to experience life in the aspect of choosing a career and achieving
goals. The adolescent is able to use his/her own judgments to set a path for its created character,
regardless of the decision being morally or ethically right. This computer game clearly keeps the
adolescent engaged is real life experiences, which helps to fully utilize abstract, moral, and
ethical thoughts. 4) I believe that this game is fun for an adolescent because it allows for the
adolescent to feel in control. It allows for the adolescent to freely express themselves in terms of
their own thinking and judgments. It also can be fun because it can bring an adolescent’s
fantasies into a virtual reality that the adolescent can identify with. 5) This toy is child-friendly in
the sense that it is easy to install. The adolescent just pops the CD-ROM into the computer,
which then gives the adolescent a tutorial on how to install the game.
I have decided to make an improvement on the Raised Relief Ocean Adventurers Globe.
The reason for choosing to make an improvement on this toy is because the toy lacks fun and
fails to captivate the child’s attention. The improvements that I will be making on this toy are
electronic features. For instance, I will add a touch pen that will give information on areas that
the child decides to press on with the touch pen. I will also add electron quizzes that will get the
child to learn the different places on the map. For instance, the quizzes will ask the child to
locate specific countries, cities, and oceans that will fully help to captivate a child’s attention.
These electronic features are consistent with Piaget’s concrete operational stage of cognitive
development because it helps fully further a child’s logical thinking of concrete events, a child’s
understanding of maps, and a child’s use of inductive reasoning. For instance, the electronic
quizzes will help a child use its inductive reasoning by quizzing the child to find as many islands
as it can. The information that the touch pen offers and the quizzes will help to clearly reinforce
and strengthen all of a child’s concrete operations of cognitive development that will help ready
the child for the next stage of development.