Background Information

When children grow up or lose interest in toys, many toys usually end up in storage or the trash (Seah, S., 2019). The American Academy of Pediatrics survey shows children's interest in toys for up to 3 weeks. Furthermore, 95% of the toys after children play will only dust the bottom of the box, and parents spend much time choosing and comparing the price, and pay is not proportional to the return. So, under the general trend of the sharing economy, toys are more suitable for renting than buying, and there may be no need to buy toys in the future (Seah, S., 2019).

Now, a new toy-sharing platform can help parents tackle waste and reduce clutter called "Toy Party. " Another motivation of this App is to help digital natives to get out of their homes and spend time with friends. Market research firm OnePoll surveyed 2,000 British parents and children to assess the entertainment habits of children aged six to 16. They found that the average child spends just seven hours a week outside and more than twice as much time indoors playing video games. The survey also found that 40 percent of parents have forced their children to leave home and spend time outdoors (Earth.com staff writer, 2018). Therefore, "Toy Party" is dedicated to helping children make friends, sell toys and build connections between parents in a small range of neighborhoods.

Stakeholder

Primary Stakeholder

5 - 16-year-old Children: Children are users of toys. There are 245,845 kids aged between 5 - 14 years old in Vancouver. (Government of Canada, S. C, 2021). Firstly, children usually lose interest in toys in a short time. After that, they will keep asking for something new to play. Nowadays, children are born with many anime and cartoon videos and based on these videos, many different types of toys are made, such as Barbie dolls and Disney Frozen. Kids want to play with them, but it takes much financial support, and not all families have enough budget for toys. Secondly, some children love to ask someone else to play together when they get a new toy, such as a racing car. They want more friends with the same toy as a racing game.

Parents: Firstly, "Toy Party" is primarily designed to help kids have fun, but parents are in control because many kids do not have cell phones. In this case, It removes the risk of purchasing a toy the children will not like. Instead, parents can test various toys, books, and games for different goals, from entertainment to integrating play into the learning process (Ionita, A, 2022).

Second, during covid,44.3% of parents with children under 18 years living at home reported worse mental health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with 35.6% of respondents without children (below 18) living at home and 36.9% (95% CI 33.1 to 40.8) of parents reported being stressed about looking after children while continuing to work and 27.8% (Gadermann, A, 2021). Many parents are frantic at home with their children and lack social interaction. After covid ends, it is not just kids who need to socialize; parents need a community of people who have been through the same things. For example, when two parents go out to play, they can let the children play with them. Parents and parents sit on the bench to chat, also do not delay watching the children.

Secondary stakeholder

Toy sales: As I mentioned, this App can not only help children exchange toys but also can be used to collect and sell their used toys. For example, many people can sell limited-edition Lego toys on this platform.

Parents: Firstly, "Toy Party" is primarily designed to help kids have fun, but parents are in control because many kids do not have cell phones. In this case, It removes the risk of purchasing a toy the children will not like. Instead, parents can test various toys, books, and games for different goals, from entertainment to integrating play into the learning process (Ionita, A, 2022).

Government of British ColumbiaToy pollution is a significant aspect of global pollution; the toy industry uses up to 40 tons of plastic for every $1M in revenue (and it is almost a $100B industry). Most of the toys are non-recyclable due to their composition(Ionita, A, 2022). This platform reduces the extravagance of toys that fit the CleanBC plan. The Government of British Columbia also proposed amendments to the Environmental Management Act Recycling Regulation by Sept. 18, 2019, to address plastic waste (Plastic action center, n.d). Therefore, this App might get financial support from the government of British Columbia.

Potential Concerns

A study has found that used products may be unhygienic: Second-hand toys could pose a health risk to young children. Old Lego blocks, dolls, and toy cars were found to contain materials that do not meet current toy safety guidelines, according to research published in the journal Environment Science and Technology (Smith, L, 2018).

There is a limited variety of second-hand goods: Not only is finding well used products time-consuming, but the variety of used products to your liking is minimal. This is especially true if you live in a rural area where there will not be too many people and, as a result, it may be challenging to rely on second-hand products for a long time (Andreas，2021).

Solution

Since they sell second-hand goods, they do not have to pay taxes. Therefore, the user can judge if the product is good or bad by their instinct and the information provided online. In "Toy Party," we will give buyers and sellers some methods to prevent fraud from helping buyers and sellers avoid fraud. Meantime, when users are trying to post the product, “Toy Party” will also ask them to do the safety check to make sure they are comfortable about the quality of the toy.

Persona

Persona1

Persona2

Persona3

Design Features

1) As for new users trying to sell the product, there will be instructions for sale. The app will ask the user for the toy's image, the quality of the toy, the price, and the reason for selling the toy. Finally, the seller will provide a comfortable location for the meet-up. As a seller, they also have to sign up for the following safety checklist before selling.

Safety Agreement: According to industry guide to second-hand product by Government of Canada (2022) You need to

- Check that all parts are present, in good condition and function properly. - Make sure assembly, instructions for use or warning labels are provided. - Check to make sure a product is sanitary and free from contamination.

When users want to exchange products, they will be asked the same steps as selling products. However, they don't need to provide the price.

2) Location-based: on the top left corner, there will be a location icon that helps users to find. There is a Google API on this page, and the number of toys will be shown on the map. People can customize based on the range of the distance first to find out how far they want to get the toy. Then, the selling page will list the products based on that.

3) Networking Page: People can make announcements to ask others to join the group for fun. For example, people can upload a toy they want to share or a location they want to play and ask if there is anyone who wants to join.

4) Share Function: Each product page, or a group page, allows people to share the post to other social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp.

5) More consideration: Since the target audience includes young kids, the language used in “Toy Party” will have simple words and some simple phrases. Besides, the primary color chosen for this App is green because the purpose App also tries to reduce plastic pollution in British Columbia.

Mid-Fidelity Prototype

Mid-Fidelity Prototype

Conclusion

The primary purpose of “Toy Party” is to help children utilize their toys to make more friends, enabling parents to build more connections with other children’s parents. Plus, this App allows users to sell or exchange the toy, which can help users avoid buying redundant toys, as a result of reducing plastic pollution, which is good for the British Columbia environment.