Bilibo Blue
Bilibo Blue has been developed by the young Swiss designer Alex Hochstrasser, in consultation with leading experts like Prof. Remo H. Largo from University Children’s Hospital in Zurich, Switzerland. The design of Bilibo Blue is based on extensive research into the playing behavior of preschool children, into the way they treat found objects and use their imagination to create a world of their own.
Unlike many current toy products, Bilibo Blue does not use flashy electronics, which often merely entertain kids on a superficial level. Relying on the child’s imagination and passion for playing, Bilibo Blue was created with no specific function nor a single way to be used.
Bilibo Blue Design
Bilibo Blue encourages children to become inventors themselves, to become active and creative instead of simply consuming ready-made ideas.
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Bilibo Blue is designed for children of different ages. While sitting comfortably in the shells, kids’ arms and legs remain outside touching the ground and thus help controlling the movement and keeping balance in the Bilibo. The egg-like shape provides great stability, the Bilibo Blue easily carries even the weight of an adult and is virtually unbreakable.
Apart from functional and ergonomic requirements, Bilibo Blue also meets high expectations regarding its aesthetics. The design of Bilibo Blue has received several awards:
Toy of the Year- UK Good Toy Awards 2006
- Dr. Toy 10 Best Active Products 2002
- Swiss Product Design Award 2002
- and more.
Bilibo Blue Reviews
Bilibo – even more fun than the box it comes in
Durability: Fun: Educational:
Bilibo is a toy. A large, colorful toy. With no moving parts, unless you count the children who play with it. Like any toy, it is designed for a certain kind of child with equally certain kinds of parents – creative, imaginative, active children, whose parents understand and support unstructured, unpredictable, non-directed play.
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The Bilibo is the mother of the Bilibo Game Box – the very Bilibo Game Box glowingly reviewed here just last month. For children between the ages of 18 mos and 8 years, the Bilibo is something to sit in or on, to rock or twirl or scoot in, to stand on, to wear. It is a water toy and a sand toy and a family room toy. It is a toy for storing other toys in.
Just what this toy means to kids depends on the adult as much as the child. The way you play with your child, the expectations you have, the limits you impose, the other toys you have out for play… all impact the way your child experiences the Bilibo, and you experience your child. Alex Hochstrasser, the inventor of what has become the Bilibo system, comments: “…most children have fun with Bilibo anyways, because that’s how they play. They learn much more when they explore and discover things by themselves…I wanted to create a toy that was not gender or age specific but rather grows with the kids and, depending on age and interests, can be used in ever new ways. The closest I had as a role model was probably the card board box.”
But it is also true that if adults are present, they influence the child’s play, overtly or covertly. Parents need to be careful of their expectations. Even the most gifted children might not immediately take to the Bilibo. They need time with it. Time to explore or not. To kick it around, sit on it, or ignore it. Its presence in their play environment, like the presence of an empty cardboard box, will, in time beckon to them.
The best influence you can have, especially with a toy like Bilibo, is in your willingness to let the child discover and define the toy for herself. For example, from the persepective of a physical therapist who has obviously allowed the child undirected access to the toy, it becomes a multi-purpose tool. The therapist writes:
“I thought I would tell you how much one child I work with enjoys the Bilibo toy. He is 5 and totally blind. He spins quite fast around in it on a hard surface floor. He is able to catch himself with his arms what ever direction he tips over which is helping him with upper body development and balance skills.
“It also cradles small/multi involved children with low tone, very nicely encouraging them in bringing their hands to midline. When a large enough child is in there (and I am supporting the Bilibo not to roll about), rather than arms/hands flopping about at the sides, the arms end up more in the middle of the body, to hold a toy. Of course with experience many of these kids like a bit of gentle rocking to and fro as well.”
Alex adds: ” the stimulation of the child’s vestibular system by spinning and balancing in the shells would be an interesting area where Bilibo shines. (The vestibular and proprioceptive systems play a key role in the development of the brain and reading and writing skills in particular.)”
If you already have the Bilibo Game Box, the big Bilibo makes an ideal expansion component, and vice versa. It’s almost a given that children will weave family fantasies around the relationship between the big Bilibo and mini-Bilibos. Then there are the profound discoveries to be made about mini-Bilibo-spinning inside a big-spinning-Bilibo, spinning, perhaps, in a different direction. And what about the Bilibo Pixel? Does it roll and bounce and do even more fun things when it’s inside a big, spinning Bilibo?
And if you can afford more than one (child or Bilibo), there’s yet other orders of magnitude of games and fantasies, probability and physics, social and biodynamics to explore.
For kids (or parents) who don’t yet have a Bilibo, there’s an ample collection of inspirational clips on YouTube. On the other had, once your kids start playing with their Bilibo collection, they’ll have all the inspiration you need. If you’re good, maybe they’ll let you play, too.
Kids love it!Fun:
Educational:
Both 5 year old and 2 year old love it…may have to buy another so they stop fighting over it. They sit, they spin around, 2 year old puts dolls in it and “rocks baby.”
It was a gamble for me and one I was glad to have taken.
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I can’t believe my kids actually play with this.
Durability: Fun: Educational:
I read all the reviews and thought there was no way a child would actually play with this. Well, I was wrong. They were purchased for my 9 year old, 15 month old, and my 5 year old niece and every one of them has had a blast playing with them. I do find that they enjoy them more in groups. It is much more fun to spin in circles on the tile floor with a friend. I was surprised to see that my son (15 months) actually played with it. At this point, he pretty much just sits in it and rocks and laughs when he topples over backwards or uses it as a stool, but I think the uses he finds for it will expand over the next few years. So, overall, I’m pleasantly surprised at how much they like it.
As for durability, I think I could drive over this thing with the car and not damage it! They are super durable.
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Originally posted 2009-11-15 22:07:31. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
