Our sample parents, have employed a team of experts to design an educational toy. Unfortunately they employed the wrong team as they have ignored ergonomic factors. Ergonomics is all about collecting measurements and applying them to a design. The design team have failed to measure the hands of young children. As a result of ergonomics not being considered, the manufactured educational toy is far too large for its purpose - it is not suitable for the hands of a young child

The design team should have collected a range of measurements/sizes of children’s hands and fingers. The design and size of the educational toy should be based on these ‘ergonomic’ measurements. This is likely to ensure that it is the correct size for its function / purpose. The diagrams opposite display some of the important measurements that need collecting.

Questions:
1. In the space below, draw simple diagrams of two educational toys and place the important ergonomic dimensions on each one. Explain why these measurements are important.
2. How will the collection of these measurements help you design an educational toy ?

TOY ONE

TOY TWO

NOTES:

To work out the average measurements of a child’s hand the following two dimensions are collected. These are drawn on the diagram below. The average measurement is then calculated using the ‘mean average’.

1. Collect 10 measurements for ‘A’ and ‘B’ dimensions.
2. Add each column to find the total.
3. Calculate the mean average by dividing each total by the number of measurements in each column.

The average measurements can be used to design an educational toy that fits the hands of an average child. Or the pieces that are handle by the child will the correct size if they are based in these measurements.