Dissection Frog Plush

No frogs were harmed in the making of this plush. The KiwiCo Froggie Dissection Lab is a plush toy that introduces kids to anatomy and physiology. It was the first finished good toy to be made at KiwiCo, and though there are some things I would have changed in manufacturing (when isn't there), I'm proud of how well it delivered conceptually. It helped to establish a new category of goods for KiwiCo and demonstrated internally & externally how our brand promise can apply to CPG. The challenge was to make a frog autopsy "huggable". Throughout concept, sketching, and prototyping, it was an informative case study on how CMF and form factor can so heavily guide the emotional response to a physical object.

Plush are a big part of imaginative play for kids developmentally, especially when it comes to exploring interpersonal relationships and understanding the world around them. Through supplemental content and tools like a big kid friendly poster, tweezers to explore, and a diagnosis card game, kids can practice empathetic solution finding through play. Also, of course, learn about anatomy & physiology along the way.

Part of making physiology kid-friendly was presenting the prognosis like a story. So cute to see kids adding to it, acting it out, & narrating their daring surgery in kid testing.

Some preliminary turns and anatomy details below:

Frog Facts! Frog kidneys, digestive tract, and lungs look very similar to humans, but they have an extra lobe in their liver to help offset toxin intake from porous skin, which is constantly secreting mucus. Also, their heart only has 1 ventricle. Because a lot of frogs can actually breathe through their skin, their heart is not too worried about what blood goes where. So, some oxygenated blood gets sent to the lungs and some unoxygenated blood gets sent to the body, completely at random. Totally wild. They also have "fatty bodies" (the pom poms), which are fat globules for hibernation. Yum.

Each organ is made of 2 pieces of felt, sewn together along one side. They each open like a little book, with "cross-sections" of the organs (pictured above) waiting inside!

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