Small Environments are toys in which children create environments for the caring, growth, and development of seeds. The assembling, disassembling, and reassembling, of the toys take the children through a world of activities that stimulate their own growth and development. In Color Field, the children organize the ground for planting by matching colors, and shapes. In the Bean House, the children deal directly with concepts of inside and outside, gravity, and even capillary action. In both toys, the children observe the transformation of their environment as well as the effects of their participation. These toys are puzzles, and science projects, these toys incorporate life skills and pretend play; combining concepts and activities of nature and the abstract that are usually kept separate.
2000 Honorable Mention – ID Magazine 46th Annual Design Review
fieldoffice Small Environments project – concepts category (peer reviewed)
Juried by Chuck Hoberman, principal Hoberman Transportable Design; Janet Abrams, director of the Design Institute at the University of Minnesota; Judith Ellis, chair Toy Design Department, Fashion Institute of Technology, founder and principal Technology Access Program, developer Discover Together. The International Design Magazine New York, New York