Baby Shape Container Toys

thingiverse

I designed some shape sorters with the help of my baby. Many shape sorters don't let anything fit in anything unless it is the right shape, but that means the toy has such a steep learning curve that by the time the child can use it, it's no longer amusing. A good toy teaches. In that spirit, anything fits in a square hole. Only a triangle fits in a triangle hole. Circles are in-between. This lets the child learn. At first, they can put anything in the square hole. They learn that the square hole is special (and easy). They can then learn about orientation and how squares don't go through the circle. This childrens' toy also uses rounded edges, because babies and sharp things don't mix well. The box can be printed with even a small print volume, only ~10cm. It is designed to use magnets (1/4 x 1/4 x 1/8 Inch Neodymium Rare Earth Block Magnets) which can be glued to the model to let it snap together, making it itself a pretty fun toy. It can be reconfigured as a box or an open-sided container, and has many properties to interest both baby and adult. Who doesn't love magnets? Enjoy and supervise your baby!