Densters - toys like you've never seen before
Densters®: den building toy monsters.
The most innovative, unique and functional toy to facilitate creative den building within the home
Kidesign launches their new product “Densters”on Kickstarter (http://kck.st/2fAflFj), with a mission to encourage children to use their physical surroundings, imagination and creativity in order to build amazing blanket forts and dens! This unique set of toys has been designed to facilitate den building, stimulate creativity and provide a functional use in the home when not used for building dens.
Meet the DenstersDensters are a set of eight charming toy monsters with functional purposes (eg. doorstop, phone stand, bookmark) that connect together and allow children to build their own worlds and take den-building to a whole new level. By using the environment around them, including doors, chairs, bed sheets, curtains and more, children create worlds of their own, unleash their imagination and develop creative skills in: planning, investigating, engineering and constructing.
“By reconnecting children with the world around them, we aim to inspire the next generation of creatives and push the boundaries of their imagination by building, learningand growing through organic play.”
Dejan Mitrovic, designer and director, Kidesign
Playful, friendly characters
Apart from being fun toys, each Denster is a unique playful character. The goal of creating these characters was to make a bond between the children and the toys, where children could make identifications with assumed Densters’ personalities such as: nerdy, introvert, mischievous, energetic, shy and cheeky. The illustrated characters were created to promote diversity and emphasize identity development.
“We wanted to keep Densters illustrations visually simple and clear for kids, but at the same time create a mysterious and intriguing atmosphere.”
Margarita, designer and illustrator, Kidesign
Empowering multi-use / functioning of toys and creativity Densters were created to solve the problem of kids spending too much time in the digital world with the idea to reconnect them with their surroundings and imagination. Research shows that building a den and playing in it has an important role in a child's development, especially in encouraging their sense of self. Densters are aimed primarily at children aged 3-11, although anyone else can and will find a use for the Densters.
“We believe that incorporating visual and imaginative skills of children together with tangible products, prompts the expansion of their sense of space as well as their maker abilities.”
Marta, educator and project manager, Kidesign
From concept to realisation
The concept was created together with students from the Royal College of Art in London and then further developed within the Kideisgn internal R&D team. Over
the last year, Kidesign have been prototyping the toys using flexible 3D printing and are now ready to start production in silicone rubber that is child-friendly, high-grade and non-toxic. User-testing the toys with children showed great results in developing their creative thinking, skills and imagination. Kidesign is finally ready to bring them to life, start production. The product is currently on Kickstarter, crowdfunding platform, and it has been funded by almost 50% of its total goal!
About Kidesign
Densters is a project by Kidesign, a London-based company that specialises in creative games and toys for kids. The Kidesign team consists of members who have a background in education, design, architecture, engineering, illustration, child psychology, marketing and business development. Kidesign has a wide five-year portfolio of creative projects for education, and has worked with a range of museums (Victoria & Albert, Design Museum, British Museum, Serpentine Galleries) and many different educational platforms.