What it does
Several diseases can be spread by contaminated hands especially for young children. Soapy is an educational toy that designed to educate children on how to wash their hands in proper way and steps, following the time duration suggested.
Your inspiration
We only come to realize how important it is to keep our hands clean after the Covid-19 pandemic, especially children. Children lack knowledge of the proper way to wash their hand and did not know the effect of it. This leads to the spread of infectious diseases among children, simply caused by the bacteria from their dirty hands, and these issues need immediate solutions. There are no children who does not like toy. The idea is to create a product that is playful and attractive to children.
How it works
The design concept of Soapy is a sphere shape product, it is ergonomic design sphere shape to ensure the holding position. The toy elements are also used in the design process. First, there is a 40 second timer to practice the children wash hand in the right time duration, and an indicator light that blink like UFO when the product started its function. There is also speaker audio built in to notify the children when it starts and finish. The scrubber of Soapy is made of silicone rubber. In a rotating motion, the scrubber act as a brush to scrub away any dirt in the hands. There is also press system to dispense foam soap easily, and vibration motor to help children scrub away the dirt. To protect Soapy and to prevent the leakage of soap accidentally, there is a protective case that also double as a keychain to let children hang it on their backpack, enables them to bring Soapy everywhere they go.
Design process
The research of Soapy was conducted at Didik Gemilang Pre-School, located in Kedah, Malaysia. The research was conducted through observation and quantitative survey form to find the reasons why children are bad in keeping their hands clean. The findings of the research were that children often times wash their hands too quickly, and they are lack of guidance on how to properly wash their hands. The design concept is a spaceship shape product, it is designed in a sphere shape to ensure the holding position and ergonomic. The toy elements are also used in the design process, the purpose of using toy element is to attract the children use more the product at the same time practice a good handwashing habit. The design also keeps sustainability in mind, the soap is dispensed in foam to minimize the wastage of soap and maximize its cleanliness.
How it is different
Soapy is different because it is simply a toy. There are thousands of different types of hand soap available in the market, but none of those really encouraged or being interactive to the children. The toy elements is to attract the children to use the product more, at the same time practice a good handwashing habit. The design included the timer, scrubber, interesting criteria, and soap dispense to ensure its functionality and focusing on ease of use.
Future plans
Soapy is a great solution to the children hygiene problem. I hope my design can be helpful and creates a brand new page in children and healthcare products. My suggestion is that Soapy can be promoted to be use in kindergarten or pre school to help both teachers and parents to educate children on the right way to wash their hands.
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