Digitoys
Designed and developped in Fablab Lima
Digitoys is a STEAM educative project for Children developed by Henry Sanchez and Gaston, his 4 years old nephew. The purpose is to teach children building their own physical toys thanks to 3D modeling and 3D printing process. These capabilities are not inherent but PLAY and LEARN are. It makes the workshops very lively and children-friendly and in the end, knowledge is more easily assimilated.
Technologies used
3D printing Computing & softwares RecyclingWhat’s the project story?
When I discovered the 3D printing process thanks to a workshop given by Benito Juarez in his house in 2014, I wondered how we can impact day to day life with it.
I began to explore the digital world from my house with my nephew. He first designed a character thanks to the easy software “Sculptris”. And to give life to him, we went to the Fablab of the Museum Metropolitano of Lima. Gaston was so excited by the result that rather focusing on the 3D printing process and its complexity he imagined what he could do next: Print legs and arms to bring to its character the possibility to move!
After this experience and doing the FabAcademy in 2015, I designed a workshop to teach children to use software and 3D printing machines in order to build their own toys.
Digitoys was born!
Next, thanks to the FabLat Kids network impulsed by Alejandra Diaz (Mexico), Alex Garcia (Brasil) y Ilaria La Manna (Argentina/Italia), the Digitoys workshops spread in many Latin American countries!
What’s the project’s greatest success so far?
The biggest success was the duplication of a workshop imagined in a house situated 2 hours from Lima all around Latin America.
Another success was the STEAM education award won during the FAB14 in France.
What’s your greatest failure(s) & lesson(s) so far?
It was difficult to find funds to replicate workshops in Peruvians labs that don’t belong to a university or a school, i.e. that don’t have continuous financial flows. I had to adjust the speech and plan demos to show how and what I will teach to children. This convinced Telefonica to offer this workshops in its « idea lab ».
What’s your vision for the project & next steps?
I have in mind many evolutions :
- To create Digitoys labs which are homelike labs dedicated to children.
- To replicate such labs in malls.
- To make each child able to be a « digitoys teacher » with the capacity to teach other children to model objects and print them.
- To create a Fablab in a suitcase for children.
- To give the « NEVO » (The Next EVOlution) platform life to reach more children.