Design Research of Rice Husk Building Block Toy Based on Mtise Tenon Structure

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Background: At present, many kinds of building block toys are available on the market
and most of them are made of small wooden blocks played by children alone. Parents can not
always accompany their children while playing, which exposes them to the danger of swallowing
the toy. Nowadays, with the country’s increasing prosperity, traditional culture is vigorously
promoted to improve cultural confidence. A part of this culture includes “Mortise and Tenon”
structure. Currently, there are few cases of applying mortise and tenon structures to building block
toys. Rice husk material is used in the product composition that has the characteristics of high
resistance to natural degradation, and it is not a threat if children accidentally swallow the toy.
Objective: From the perspective of children's safety, this paper examine and analyzes the current
building block toys, and innovates from the two aspects of structure and materials to better protect
the children, and at the same time, to inherit and preserve the traditional Chinese culture. Methods:
The current literature on building block toys was analyzed to understand the importance of
building blocks for children's education, and then the materials was compared and analyzed to
determine how different types of building blocks affect children's safety. Finally, the case study
was carried out on children's building blocks to analyze how to include mortise and tenon
structure with toys and use safer building blocks materials. Results: Through the innovation of
building block material and structure, such as edible rice husk material, mortise and tenon
structure, as well as parent-child interaction, the design was completed with an eye toward
children’s safety and enhancing both the parent-child relationship while using building block toys.
Conclusions: 1) Children's safety as the main focus; 2) Using mortise and tenon structure to
increase parent-child interaction; 3) The use of rice husk material to make building block toys more
eco-friendly and safe. Using the aforementioned three aspects will serve as as the innovation points
in the designs of building block toys that are more ideal for children.