TJ's Creative Tools

Inspiration

I’m a passionate pediatric occupational therapist and mom who just wants her kids, and her kids’ friends to have toys and tools that enhance learning and creativity and not hinder development.

How it works

Children’s toys emphasize big and brassy: oversized handles for cups; giant paintbrushes; metal spoons; flashing lights and loud sounds on every toy and learning surface….even the iPad has made it into the toy chest!

What manufacturers have forgotten is that children have SMALL hands and anything OVERSIZED makes using that object challenging. In fact, when the object is too big, they cannot manipulate it properly; it doesn’t help strengthen hand muscles OR help develop manipulation skills. Childhood experiences are important for developing healthy, strong hands in order to efficiently explore and manipulate objects that are needed for daily living skills and the ability to learn.

TJ’s paint brushes are unique; they come in various sizes specific to the child’s age and hand size. The paintbrush length is the size of a preschooler’s hand. If it is longer, the child doesn’t know where to place their grasp nor can they easily move the brush along the paper. Therefore, brush length for a two year-old will be smaller than for a four-year-old.

The width of the brush from the bristle-handle junction will gradually get thicker, in order to support the developing arches of the hand. This support will strengthen the hand muscles needed for grasping and manipulating small objects.

At the bristle-handle junction, the area where the child should hold the brush will be indented providing a visual and tactile cue to help properly position the fingers. Children need to be taught how to grasp tools, utensils, and writing implements and benefit from reminders when learning where and how to position/grasp their fingers on writing/drawing implements. When children learn poor grasp habits, it interferes with writing ability and can ultimately impact self-confidence in performing classroom tasks.

Since many children are exposed to adult-sized writing/drawing implements (including a stylus from an ipad) earlier in life, their potential for developing ineffective and inefficient hand grasps to manipulate objects is increased. This impacts feeding skills, fastening buttons, zippers, and snaps on clothing as well as creativity and written communication skills.

The bristles of the brush will vary in size and thickness for appeal to the customer.

It is proposed that we create and patent the design for this innovative paintbrush. By owning the patent, we can then sell versions of the tool to production companies and to parents/caregivers who want to print the “design” on their 3D printer at home.