Puggle may be secret weapon to teach kids to wait - 2006

27 November 2006

With Christmas looming and the shops and internet filled with cheap, attractive, disposable toys, we are reminded of how our society is all about instant gratification, but one young woman hopes to change that.

Queensland University of Technology industrial design student Emma Patterson has designed a toy to teach children that there are rewards in waiting to get what you want.

Emma, also an Ipswich Girls' Grammar graduate, said she was inspired to design the toy - Puggle - because she had concerns that the current generation of children would grow up without being "forward thinking".

"In our society, everything is at your fingertips and whatever you want you can basically have in 30 seconds," the 22-year-old said. "I'm afraid that kids will hardly be able to think about the next few days, let alone the next few years or their impact on future generations."

Emma's Puggle is shaped like an echidna or porcupine with round-edged spikes that each feature a light emitting device that allows children to choose from three different games.

She said the spikes either lit up entirely or projected a letter or number on their tip - all the spikes could be pressed back into the padded body of the Puggle if children wished to cuddle it.

"One game involves waiting for spikes to light up before pressing them back in and the other two games require children to press spikes in either in alphabetical or numerical order," Emma said.

"The interval that children have to wait between spikes lighting up increases, teaching them to practice being patient while they wait. Once they complete the task they are rewarded with a sound and light display from Puggle."

Before she designed Puggle, Emma said she researched the concept of emotional intelligence and its role in children's development.

"There is a famous research project where children were given a marshmallow and given the choice to either eat it or wait up to 15 minutes and receive two marshmallows," she said.

"The researchers found the children who waited for the second marshmallow were better adjusted and more successful as young adults."

Emma said research had shown children could practice delayed gratification to become "smarter, be more likely to stay out of trouble and to think more about consequences".

Emma - who has just completed her Graduate Diploma in Industrial Design - is now planning to visit toy companies, with Puggle in tow, until her dream of becoming a toy designer is realised. Media contacts: Carmen Myler/Toni Chambers, QUT media officers - 3138 1150.