Toy Story WK 3

My toy hacking experience was a little daunting, humbling and ultimately exciting! Faith and I screamed out loud when we got our toys connected. We decided to have the sound from her toy play on my toy and we solicited help from students. Although I have participated in a toy hacking workshop before, I primarily hacked the appearance of the toy rather than the electronics. I decided to document my progress with this imovie: https://youtu.be/YhIdl-MZ2Ko.

When I brought my toys into school the noises coming out of my bag immediately attracted a student who was there early. She came into my room and replaced any dead batteries for me. Later in the day Faith and I sat down and deconstructed our toys. We rewatched videos and looked up what the coloring of wires mean, and then we went and grabbed a 5th grader we knew we could depend on to help us. We figured out (somewhat) what we were looking at and came up with our goal. We were able to isolate the speakers and the wires that completed the sound circuit on each toy. Then a group of 6th graders came in, asked what we were doing, and helped us see that we needed to disconnect the sound from one toy before we connected the sound from the other toy. And it worked!

It was very challenging to figure out what all those wires went to. There is so much circuitry in even a simple toy. Picking one thing to change (sound) helped me think about just one of the circuits and try, logically, to consider inputs and outputs. The videos helped a bit, but having a partner to share ideas with, and having people (students) to ask directly helped tremendously. While they also weren’t exactly sure what to do, their prior knowledge and risk taking was greater than mine, and following their thought process helped my own. I think all this holds true for students too: narrowing down the task and having collaborative partners, access to online tools, and access to someone who knows a little more that you do makes the project more fun and more approachable and successful.

There is so much learning in toy hacking. I was aware of “thinking hard.” What do I know about circuits and how does this apply to the toy? How can I be a detective and follow all these wires to their outputs? Where can I find resources to help me? What is the best tool for the job? What creative new idea can I bring to these toys? How can my partner and I work efficiently together? I totally see the value of adding toy hacking to our maker space and curriculum. Faith and I are going to form student tech teams (students specializing in a tech application and being available to help others in the school, including teachers.) It may be time for toy hacking student experts who can help us lead the workshops. But in order to go forward with students, I’m going to have to spend more time really understanding all those wires!