Jharoka puzzle from Maniams Design Studio
| Picture Credit score: Particular Association
In a world more and more dominated by screens, the significance of tactile and artistic play for a kid’s improvement can’t be overstated. A 2024 article in Frontiers, anopen-access scientific journal, says, “Academic toys supply a hands-on expertise, permitting youngsters to bodily manipulate and work together with studying supplies. This direct interplay can result in deeper understanding and higher reminiscence retention.” Kids who have interaction in hands-on play with open-ended toys are believed to display extra important cognitive abilities, improved problem-solving talents, and better creativity than those that primarily eat content material from digital units. That is the place Coimbatore-based Maniams Design Studio steps in, providing a refreshing different with their thoughtfully designed and handcrafted toys.
Maniams Design Studio, led by architect and toy designer Kanaka Ananth, takes a singular method to toymaking. Kanaka, a graduate of the Nationwide Institute of Design’s first toy design programme, has over 15 years of expertise. The corporate creates toys impressed by Indian components, specializing in schooling and inclusivity. Their crew of designers develops toys appropriate for youngsters of all talents. Sustainability is a core worth, with Maniams collaborating with artisans throughout India to supply handcrafted toys utilizing high-quality, eco-friendly supplies like locally-made bamboo baskets and containers.
College youngsters utilizing Maniams Design Studio puzzles
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association
Maniams has launched two new additions to their assortment: Kona and Jharoka. Impressed by the idea of “angle” or “nook,” Kona is a 3D puzzle designed to boost youngsters’s visual-spatial reasoning abilities. Kanaka explains, “Kona is impressed by 3D triangles however with a twist. Not like most puzzles that keep flat, we designed it to create a three-dimensional impact when accomplished. It’s all about bringing a brand new dimension to playtime.”
This goes past simply enjoyable. Kanaka says recognising and differentiating mirror photos is crucial for topics like math, science, engineering, and structure. She believes Kona will assist youngsters enhance their spatial reasoning, essential for educational and bodily actions and helpful for inventive and design-related fields.
Jharoka, in the meantime, is impressed by conventional Indian architectural balconies and home windows and is a shape-sorter puzzle for toddlers. The colourful puzzle incorporates colors and patterns from Indian textile motifs like Bandhani and Ikat. As Kanaka describes it, “Jharoka teaches toddlers about major, secondary, and tertiary colors, in addition to polygons, reinforcing their understanding of elementary ideas by way of matching and sorting actions.”
Each Kona and Jharoka’s designs mirror Maniams’ dedication to cultural heritage. Utilizing these conventional motifs introduces younger youngsters to Indian artwork and design in a playful approach.
“Each toy we design has a narrative behind it,” says Kanaka.
Kona puzzle
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association
One in all their bestsellers, the storytelling puzzle, attracts inspiration from historical Indian rock artwork. “Our ancestors used to depict looking tales and every day life on cave partitions,” she says, “Curiously, these symbols have advanced into the icons we use at present in messaging apps – a complete language with out phrases!” The storytelling puzzle captures this essence with items that may be organized into countless narratives. “It’s wonderful to see how youngsters (even adults) use it creatively, even incorporating it into their every day lives,” she provides. She shares examples of kids utilizing the puzzle to depict household scenes or create ornaments.
This deal with storytelling extends past a single toy. For example, their Karagattam stacking toy is impressed by the normal Tamil Nadu dance kind the place performers stability pots on their heads. “We studied on a regular basis objects like crayons that youngsters maintain and used these shapes as inspiration for the stacking items,” Ananth says, “The purpose is to stack them identical to you’ll carry pots in your head, with a hoop on the high for stability.” On this approach, Maniams transforms on a regular basis objects into playful instruments that join youngsters to Indian tradition. “Every toy turns into slightly piece of Indian tradition, handed down by way of play.”
