Outdoor Living

Outdoor Living

1. Location

   • Beach
     • Sand castle bucket
       • Would appeal to my target markets (being the kid and the parent) as the parent could gather the sans and the child could make the castle.
     • Must be resistant to water as it will be used next to the tide.
     • Beachball
       • A beach ball appeals to a wide market and would be very easy to manufacture
   • Garden
     • Must also be resistant to conditions such as water and temperature as it will be left outside.
     • It would be more accessible than a beach ball as a toy designed to be used on a beach is limited to only those who live near to a beach
     • Tennis ball or any other small ball designed to be used for catch, very immediate appeal.
     • Chalk
       • Limited accessibility as only those who have a strip of patio could really use it
       • However, a lot can be done with some chalk, you could construct your own little outdoor game using it.
     • Garden Swingset
       • Would require a rope with extreme tensile strength as the weight of the child swings in a pendulum style motion at a high velocity. The toy is designed for very young children and so it could be a major safety issue.

2. Materials

   • Firstly, let us address the obvious, the material must be able to withstand wet conditions, cold conditions, being left out in the sun, etc. It essentially must be able to hold up outside. The UK's climate is largely unpredictable, so it must be versatile in the sense that it can withstand any condition thrown at it by the weather.
   • Wood
     • Softwood
       • Cheaper to produce than an application made from hardwoods, softwoods grow quicker, meaning they are in higher abundance. However they generally splinter and crack, making them potentially unsafe.
       • Examples include: Pine Spruce Cedar Redwood
     • Hardwood
       • Hardwoods owe their increased durability to their more condensed and complex structure. This makes them ideal for high durability projects such as furniture or any other appliance designed to be kept out for an extended period of time. Their trees take far longer to grow, ranging anywhere from 60 to 100 years! However this caveat is lessened by the fact that they splinter less, making them far safer for children to use.
       • Examples include: Beech Maple Birch Rubberwood
   • Plastic
     • A defining trait of plastics is their mouldability. This makes them easy to manufacture and mould into a children's toy.
   • Metals