Engineering Holiday Joy: 3D PATH Brings Adapted Toys to Children’s Center

Biomedical engineering students from 3D PATH and a multidisciplinary team of students representing the VIP BEAR team visited The Children's Center at UCP (United Cerebral Palsy) of Long Island to deliver specially adapted toys. Photos by John Griffin.

In October, more than 70 volunteers from Stony Brook University's student body, local community and industry came together to help modify toys for children with disabilities at the 3D PATH(3D Printing and Assistive Technology for Health) Club's third annual Toy Adaptation Event. Students re-engineered talking toys such as Bluey plush dolls, dancing cacti, and interactive giraffes, replacing small, pressure-sensitive buttons with large, easy-to-press external switches, enabling children with limited hand mobility to play independently.

On December 9, biomedical engineering students from 3D PATH and a multidisciplinary team of students representing the VIP (Vertically Integrated Project) BEARteam visited The Children's Center at UCP (United Cerebral Palsy) of Long Islandto deliver these adapted toys.

The partnership with The Children's Center at UCP began in 2022, when Stony Brook's Mei Lin (Ete) Chan, assistant professor of practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, reached out to the center hoping to test a prototype that had been developed in one of her engineering classes.

Chan's work in biomedical engineering frequently focuses on health-related issues. While working on a project to help elderly people suffering from arthritis, Chan realized she could expand her community outreach efforts and engage students. Having two young children of her own, she immediately thought of the tiny user buttons incorporated into so many toys.

"Seeing how they play with toys and learn so many things like action and reaction along the way is amazing," she said. "And toys are not just for fun. They can help develop fine motor skills, cognitive, psychosocial, emotional and linguistic skills. But toys that have little switches can be very difficult for kids who have a hard time with fine motor control skills."

In 2023, Chan and her students brought the first adapted toys to the school and worked with children to see if the prototype that they were building would actually suit the needs of kids with disabilities.

"It's just evolved over the past couple of years and Stony Brook has been fantastic," said Camille Schramm, director of development and public relations at United Cerebral Palsy of Long Island. "Unless you're in the situation where you have the need for services like ours, you don't think about it. It's really nice to see these young students focusing on children, and it's great to see the community involvement. We're so grateful for all of their expertise and thinking about the children and their needs and developing these types of toys."

"This is a wonderful program," added Lisa Casellas, director of educational services/principal of The Children's Center. "It's a great collaboration and our students benefit so much from Stony Brook students coming in with materials for them and working on different things so that they're functional for our students."

Many of the children at UCP don't have the ability to play with store-bought toys. Efforts like Chan's help them get the same experience that most children are able to enjoy.

"It's a mix of cartoon characters that a lot of kids really like," said Angee Diaz, Biomedical Engineering '27. "We adapted those toys to make it more accessible to children who might have limited hand mobility."

The team attached large buttons to mechanisms so that children who may not have the dexterity and strength to enjoy a squeeze toy can enjoy the toy the same way.

"Delivering the toys is one of my favorite parts of the toy adaptation," said Diaz. "Everyone is really excited to get the gifts, and it's lovely to see all the kids light up and see toys that they can play with and enjoy. It's a really fulfilling way to close both the semester and the event."

"When we talk about normalcy, we talk about how kids react to toys, the excitement," said senior biomedical engineering major Masrurah Morshed. "We have to keep in mind that kids that have cognitive or neural disabilities don't get to react that way. Our goal is to address challenges they have with buttons, or designing systems that let them interact with colors so they can enjoy the toys. It's the holiday season. We want to see all the kids happy, and we want to give our hearts and our skills as engineers as a way to help these facilities."

"Events like this really capture what 3D PATH is about," said Chan. "It combines engineering, creativity and service and students can see first-hand the impact their skills can have on someone's life."

In addition to UCP, the adapted toys were also donated to People's Arc of Suffolk Educare Center for Children Services and Angela's Housein Long Island.

Stony Brook's VIP Program was established to unite undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty members in multidisciplinary teams that work on long-term projects in research, design, innovation and entrepreneurship. The goal is to provide a real-world context for course work, shape career paths and build professional, teamwork and leadership skills that cannot be taught in the classroom. VIP projects, teams and participants are elevated by the broad knowledge, talents and experiences assembled by engaging individuals from diverse disciplines and backgrounds.

To expand the impact of this type of initiative under the VIP umbrella, Chan, with the support of VIP director Robert Kukta, is working closely with Leanne DeMay-Pouliot, VIP program manager and Urszula Zalewski, director of experiential education in the Career Center, to pilot VIP-EPICS (Engineering Projects in Community Service). By partnering with external not-for-profit community organizations, educational institutions and governmental agencies, students will have an opportunity to provide service to the local and global community while working with a team of multidisciplinary students and gaining academic credits.

Two examples of this type of partnership include the New York Metro Makers Making Change Chapterfor toy adaptation, and TOMfor creating toddler mobility trainers both in woodand with 3D printing. The TOM Fellowship is an international leadership program built to support students who seek to apply technology and innovation to solve unmet challenges faced by people with disabilities, the elderly, and vulnerable groups in their communities.​

- Robert Emproto