Top 6 Designs That Harness the Power of Play
by Bridgette Meinhold, 07/26/10
Kids have so much boundless energy, and they can play and run tirelessly for hours on end -- as any baffled parent can attest! Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming for us adults (maybe we're just jealous?), but that's what makes kids so amazing. We often joke, "If only we could bottle that energy up, maybe we could power the world!" Well, you can't quite bottle up a kid's energy or synthesize it in a lab, but there are some fun toys and games out there that use the kinetic energy of children at play to generate power or do work. Some of them are great humanitarian designs to aid people with less resources, and others are just good old fashioned fun. Check out our Top 6 Designs that harness the power of play!
PBS recently aired a documentary on Play Pumps International that explored the failures of the implementation of this idea and the failures of the acceptance of the machine itself due to local cultural dynamics. In effect the ladies preferred the old hand pump. Their wash day worked around it. As friend and I discussed Cell Phones ~ ” I want it to make a phone call not cook a pizza” These great innovations also need thorough testing in reality.