B Is For Ball

Multifunctional Baby Toy for Biggest Little

B Is For Ball is a thoughtfully designed developmental toy that evolves with children from infancy through childhood. Made from food grade silicone, it ensures safety, durability, and versatility. Its two part detachable structure, featuring a weighted lid and hollow body, encourages child led exploration: from teething and motor skill development to creative and early science discovery. The patented design enhances bath time play while allowing easy cleaning and preventing mold. With its intentionally minimalist form, it inspires creativity, problem solving, and meaningful play.

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B Is For Ball by Huiying Stephanie Fu

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Multifunctional Baby Toy by Huiying Stephanie Fu

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Huiying Stephanie Fu B Is For Ball

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Huiying Stephanie Fu Multifunctional Baby Toy

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Unique Properties

This design redefines the baby ball with a multifunctional structure that evolves with a child's development. Crafted from 100% food grade silicone, it features a detachable, weighted lid and a hollow, mushroom shaped body, enabling diverse functions: rom teether and roly poly to stacker and water play object. Designed for hygiene, it ensures complete drainage, preventing mold. Its durable, timeless form supports motor skills, STEM learning, and sensory exploration across early childhood.

Tags

Ball Toy, Baby Ball, Baby Ball Toy, Kid's Bath Toy, Kid's Water Toy, Multifunctional Baby Toy, Multifunctional Ball Toy

Production Technology

B Is For Ball is crafted from single durometer food grade silicone, with varying wall thicknesses for optimal softness and durability. It features a two part detachable system: a hollow body and a weighted lid, engineered for structural integrity. The patented interlocking mechanism ensures secure fastening while withstanding water pressure from both kids and adults. Designed for safety and hygiene, it allows convenient drainage and easy cleaning to prevent mold. This innovative design supports key developmental milestones through functional adaptability.

Design Challenge

The primary goal of this design was to create a simple yet highly functional play object that is ultra safe for babies while offering multiple developmental benefits. Achieving this balance required extensive research, prototyping, and testing to address several key challenges. Maintaining a Simple and Safe Form While Integrating Multiple Functions The object needed to evolve with the child, supporting early developmental milestones such as grasping and teething while continuing to engage older children exploring water dynamics, stacking, balancing, and sensory play. The challenge was to maintain a simple, intuitive design that fosters progressive skill building without unnecessary complexity. Selecting the right material was essential to ensure a softness suitable for teething while providing durability for gripping, rolling, and water play. Additionally, the surface needed to be easy to clean for daily use, preventing residue buildup and ensuring long term hygiene. Developing an Effective Water Squirting Mechanism Maximizing water capacity to reduce frequent refills introduced another design challenge in balancing the volume of the main body and the lid. While keeping the lid as small as possible, the closure still had to withstand external impact from being dropped or thrown as well as internal pressure from squeezing water. The mechanism also needed to create a firm seal to prevent leaks while still allowing water to pass through the three holes on the top. At the same time, it had to remain intuitive for anyone to open and close with ease, ensuring functionality for both children and caregivers. Developing an Effective Design for Easy Cleaning Traditional water toys often trap moisture, leading to mold growth. To prevent this, the internal structure was designed to allow thorough cleaning and proper drainage. The shape and material ensure that water does not pool in hidden areas, allowing every part to dry completely after use. The design process required a deep understanding of childhood developmental stages and involved extensive observation of how children and caregivers interacted with the object. Through repeated testing, adjustments were made to refine the balance between a secure seal that prevents leaks and an accessible closure that allows for easy refilling. The fit between the lid and body was carefully adjusted to ensure a snug connection while maintaining ease of assembly and disassembly.

Project Duration

The project started in June 2020 in Brooklyn and launched to market in June 2023 in Brooklyn

Operation Flow

B Is For Ball adapts to a child's growth, supporting different stages of play. For infants, it soothes teething, strengthens grip and fine motor skills, and encourages eye-hand coordination and object transfers. As they grow, it adds fun to bath and water play, stacking, rolling, and throwing for gross motor development. Older children use it for stamping, outdoor exploration, imaginative play, and even as a water gun alternative. The design also supports early exploration of science and art, functioning as a dropper for experiments or a sensory exploration device, such as a smelling bottle. Its simplicity and versatility let children lead their learning and play through curiosity, using it from infancy through childhood.

Research

This is based on an 18 month experiment on minimalistic parenting and research on mold accumulation in bath toys, which poses health risks to children. The objective was to explore how reducing toy clutter impacts child development and parental wellbeing while addressing hygiene concerns in water play. The methodology involved daily observations of two children, ages 9 months to 3 years, using only open ended toys and household materials. Trend was observed on engagement levels, creativity, and parental stress. Results showed that fewer toys led to deeper focus, independent play, and problem solving, while parents experienced reduced stress and more meaningful interactions. Research on bath toy hygiene highlighted common issues with mold growth due to water retention. These insights informed B Is For Ball’s design, prioritizing simplicity, multifunctionality, and hygiene, ensuring a mold resistant, easy to clean structure that supports long term, open ended play.

Inspiration

B Is For Ball was inspired by an 18 months experiment in minimal living and play. We experienced how excess toys led to clutter, overstimulation, and fleeting interest, while simplicity sparked creativity and deeper engagement. Observing how children naturally explore with basic, open ended objects, we designed a safe, timeless, and versatile tool that empowers discovery, problem solving, and meaningful play, bringing childhood back to its essence.

Image Credits

Image Main, #3, 4, Arko Studio, 2023. Image #1,2, Lily Glass, 2023.

Project Overview

B Is For Ball Multifunctional Baby Toy has been a Bronze winner in the Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design award category in the year 2024 organized by the prestigious A' Design Award & Competition. The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.

Bronze Recognition

Huiying (Stephanie) Fu was recognized with the coveted Bronze A' Design Award in 2025, a testament to excellence of their work B Is For Ball Multifunctional Baby Toy.

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