usable toys

I was watching my 4 yr old struggle to play with a Hot Wheels racing track he got as a gift. The contraption took us an hour to assemble and then we started figuring out how to play! There were two gears which were whirring and turning at full speed and you had to carefully place the little car right in the middle of those gears. The car got hurled away by the force of the gears and it was supposed to go all the way around the track. But, guess what, its so heavy it doesn;t go halfway! And the toy is meant for ages 3 and up! Talk about being tough to use. What's the little guy supposed to do?

It got me thinking how relevant usability is to the world of toys and kids stuff. Isn't it even more important to put in proper thinking and design toys in a way that they can be easily used by the target users - little kids!

One toy I really love is a little car which just won't fall off. That's so perfect for a kid who is riding it on a table top...there's no risk of it falling off. The rotator wheel turns the car any time it hits an edge.
That's smart design!

Another thing i saw at a friend's house - a kid's chair which has steps like a ladder. So, the kid can easily get up and sit on the chair without any help. Useful.

Perhaps its also smart to use kids for usability testing. Imagine if a product is so easy that a kid can use it....thats the best usability test!