03 · PMMA acrylic

Colour Creature.

STEM toy for ages 3–6

Course: ID300 · STEM toy project
Year: 2026

Render of the Colour Creature frame head-on, cyan, magenta and yellow acrylic paddles crossing in its window

Children slide cyan, magenta and yellow acrylic paddles over a drawing and watch hidden pictures appear and disappear. Subtractive colour, learnt by hand.

Brief

Design a functional STEM toy that builds curiosity and critical thinking in early childhood: intuitive, safe, durable and fun.

Idea

Many STEM toys hide the science behind white plastic and an app. I wanted the opposite: technical transparency. Colour Creature uses the Carnovsky effect. A drawing made of overlapping cyan, magenta and yellow lines changes completely depending on which coloured filter you look through, so children discover how colour mixing works with their hands.

Research

I surveyed 54 competing STEM toys in Cape Town stores and ran a questionnaire before settling on the paddle-and-frame format. The design follows ISO 8124-1 toy safety: rounded edges, no small parts, water-based finishes.

Making

PLEXIGLAS acrylic paddles on birch handles, set into a Baltic birch frame with two grips sized for small hands. Landed unit cost: R759.36.

Still from the product video: the magenta paddle slid over the drawing, hiding part of the elephant — The magenta paddle slides over the drawing and part of the elephant disappears.

Still from the product video: the painted frame with an elephant drawing, the three paddles and markers — The finished kit: painted birch frame, three acrylic paddles and markers.

Still from the product video: a hand drawing on the frame with a marker — Children draw their own picture to hide and reveal.

Explanation sketch: a child holding the frame up to look through a paddle, with part studies — Explanation sketch: looking through a paddle.

Render of the frame from above at an angle, the three paddles overlapping into new colours — Where two paddles overlap, a third colour appears.

Photo of the finished birch frame beside its three acrylic paddles — Frame and paddles.

Ideation sheet: colour wheels, overlapping filters and creature forms — Ideation: colour wheels, filters and creature forms.