By JON BAKER

LINCOLN — A mammoth contingent of designers — 123 strong — enthusiastically presented prototypes of new toys to Hasbro’s finest on Friday morning, though chances of their acceptance were astronomically low.

Still, that didn’t seem to bother the presenters an iota, and for good reason: They were first-graders representing Northern Lincoln Early Learning Center, kids who for the past seven weeks developed toys made of recycleable materials under the tutelage of former Hasbro designer Bobbi Jarvis.
Projects completed, the students traveled with Jarvis, Northern Lincoln ELC principal Monique Latessa and several chaperones to the “Toy Kingdom” in Pawtucket to introduce their creations to Hasbro.
“These kids are absolutely amazing,” gushed Jarvis, who does such for a living out of her Bristol home, just before school let out. “To see them stand up there in groups of three, four or five and present their ideas — the way they
spoke with such confidence, using a microphone in front of adults — was incredible.
“I’ve done this for first-graders all the way up through graduate students at the Rhode Island School of Design, and I will say this: First-graders are phenomenal brainstormers. They’re better than I ever thought they could be because they have no preconceived notions as to what they should be considering. They have terrific imaginations, and just let the ideas fly.
“The only difference between them and the RISD students is that the children need the help of a parent volunteer, in that they don’t have the same manual dexterity as an older person; you know, with scissors and glue,” she added. “The craftsmanship, obviously, is a little different from that of a 20-year-old college kid, but -- honestly -- the ideas are just as strong.”
Call it a truly memorable field trip, one in which the entourage -- in two groups -- received a tour of all departments, while the kids collected either “The Littlest Pet Shop” or “Transformers” toys as thanks.
“There’s such a slim possibility that one of these concepts could become reality, maybe one-thousandth of one percent, but that’s not why we did this project,” Jarvis stated. “This is much more of a teaching tool. In essence, this was a field trip for a kid to see what they could put together, and how that happens in the real world.
“The skills they learned and the creative problem-solving they encountered, they’ll be able to use that in any career they choose to pursue.”

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Actually, Jarvis and Latessa have teamed up before. When Latessa was principal at Rockwell Elementary School in Bristol a few years back, she met Jarvis, who was a member of the PTA and also the institution’s Cultural Arts Committee.
“When I came on board here, I wanted to bring forth the same cultural arts extensions as I did at Rockwell,” Latessa said. “We wanted children to have more than just the classroom experience. We decided to bring in presenters and have them experience things that would enhance their learning. Programs are very ‘hands-on,’ with children working in small groups on problem-solving, communicating, listening and creating.”
At Rockwell, the two involved first-graders in PPAC’s “The Festival of Ballet,” where two dancers worked with students for 13 weeks. And, just last year in Lincoln, the tandem implemented a program where first-graders were asked to channel ideas for a “push/pull” toy for toddlers.
This time, they chose to ask the “little ones” to design role-playing toys for pre-schoolers, using the already-introduced “Rose Petal Cottage” and “Adventure Squad” as models.
Jarvis met with seven classes of approximately 18 students for 90 minutes per week, asking teams of 3-5 to come up with their own ideas. Before the project started, parents -- for obvious reasons -- were schooled in acting as facilitators, not construction workers.
That first week, the children brainstormed and began their own journals; the second, they sketched their ideas in art classes; and, the third, they critiqued their own ideas and initiated construction.
By Week No. 4, they began building those models out of soda and water bottles of different shapes and sizes, egg cartons, cardboard, fabrics, paper towel cylinders; amd poster boards.
Among the ideas: For Rose Petal Cottage, extension toys included “Fun Sounds Snippet Salon;” “Vroom Vroom Yummy Donuts;” and “Popcorn & Puppets,” a puppet-show theater with a concession stand with fun, magical ways to dispense popcorn and candy.
As for Adventure Squad, notions were to create an “All-Star Sports Training Center” (for football, soccer and basketball enthusiasts); “Zoomin’ Whoomin’ Ambulance;” “Squeakin’ Spyin’ Treehouse;” and “Super Fast Rescue Boogie Board.”
In fact, one group built a “Hide & Sleep, Fun Times, Slumber Party Campsite,” with one side a fish pond with magnetic poles to retrieve fish; and the other a sleeping bag with pockets for camping gear.
Seven-year-old Jared Hemond admitted he had a blast working on that “Boogie Board,” though he seemed a bit irked when asked its function.
“This is supposed to rescue ocean creatures, like if they got hurt or something like that,” he said. “I think it’s really great because it can help fish, things like that. I’d say it’s awesome because first-graders built and painted it.”
Offered fellow creator Vega Gravier, age 6: “I think it’s pretty cool to make this. We all had a lot of fun, making this out of stuff you can recycle. I think the people at Hasbro liked this because you can just pretend you’re on the water. I’d like to see a real toy like this.”
Over the final two weeks, students finished and painted the models, then produced posters with drawings of their extension toys to deliver to Hasbro brass. They also practiced their presentations.

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Jarvis, who between 1989 and 1997 worked as a designer in Hasbro’s Playskool division, explained she had spoken with some “old friends” on the design team afterward, and all expressed their impressions.
“They thought they were wonderful ideas,” she said. “They were impressed with the amount of work that went into the projects, and that they were surprised and thrilled at how well thought out they were … This was all about taking an idea from your imagination and turning it into a real product. I just took them through the steps it takes to get there, just like I used to when I was at Hasbro.
“The goal was to learn the design process -- to conceive the idea, write, draw, execute and build,” she added. “There were no problems between boys and girls, with the boys wanting to be in the Adventure Squad groups and the girls in the Rose Petal Cottage. The brainstorming involved all different categories. There weren’t any themes for boys and girls. They worked on these things together.”
Stated Latessa: “I’m very proud of all of these children. It can be hard for them to sit and listen for so long because of their age, but they all did a super job. This is something they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives. They can take this not only into middle and high school, but into the real world as well.”