3dtoyshop - help us help the little heroes
Donation protected
This all started because of a 3 year old boy with a brain implant. His mum asked me if I could make a teddy shunt valve, so his teddy could have a brain implant just like him. My heart stopped. I researched the implant, made the toy, shared this on www.facebook.com/3dtoyshop , and then the parents of over 100 children with brain implants asked if I could make a toy for their child.
Realising I needed to help these vulnerable children, I decided to stop everything, learn about toy safety, and get my teddy shunt valve to a lab. I refined the design to remove the sharp edges, scaled it so it wasn't a choking hazard, and had a lab certify it as a safe toy. I managed to get these made and shipped in time for the children to get a teddy on Christmas day 2020.
I started getting requests for children with other conditions. Can I make a teddy with a peg feed? Can I make a teddy with a foot splint? Can I make a teddy bear dialysis machine? Can I make a teddy tracheostomy? Can I make a teddy with a pace maker? Can I make a teddy oxygen bottle, glasses, eye patch, hearing aid, cochlear implant. The answer was yes, and I did.
For almost a year now, I have been taking requests and designing a completely bespoke toy for each child, to help them understand and normalise their medical issues. Each time I have designed a new toy (which often takes a full days labour), I have only charged £20. This has been an amazing adventure, and I've now got 55 completely bespoke medical toys which can help the most poorly children.
I have a dream where 3dtoyshop makes a toy for every child living with a disability, and I'd like your help to make that happen. I'd like to scale 3dtoyshop into a small factory, with lots of machines making toys, and a number of staff assembling teddies and shipping them out.
Realising I needed to help these vulnerable children, I decided to stop everything, learn about toy safety, and get my teddy shunt valve to a lab. I refined the design to remove the sharp edges, scaled it so it wasn't a choking hazard, and had a lab certify it as a safe toy. I managed to get these made and shipped in time for the children to get a teddy on Christmas day 2020.
I started getting requests for children with other conditions. Can I make a teddy with a peg feed? Can I make a teddy with a foot splint? Can I make a teddy bear dialysis machine? Can I make a teddy tracheostomy? Can I make a teddy with a pace maker? Can I make a teddy oxygen bottle, glasses, eye patch, hearing aid, cochlear implant. The answer was yes, and I did.
For almost a year now, I have been taking requests and designing a completely bespoke toy for each child, to help them understand and normalise their medical issues. Each time I have designed a new toy (which often takes a full days labour), I have only charged £20. This has been an amazing adventure, and I've now got 55 completely bespoke medical toys which can help the most poorly children.
I have a dream where 3dtoyshop makes a toy for every child living with a disability, and I'd like your help to make that happen. I'd like to scale 3dtoyshop into a small factory, with lots of machines making toys, and a number of staff assembling teddies and shipping them out.
There are an enormous number of little heroes living with medical implants and devices that their lives depend on, and what I want to do is give each of them a Teddy just like them them to normalise their conditions.
Giving a child a Teddy just like them can dramatically change the child's perception, giving them comfort, helping them understand, and have a friend just like them.
There are play therapists working in every hospital with these children who try to make them feel a little more normal, and I've now got a collection of 55 bespoke medical toys and need to scale up production. But at the moment, I can only make 2 toys at a time as I've only got 2 x 3d printers.
The first thing I'd like to do is to double my output. Purchasing 2 x 3d printers at £900 each will do this.
At the moment, I've got 6 certified plastics, 1 certified ribbon, and 2 certified toys (the Teddy shunt valve and the Teddy tracheostomy valve). Id like to get more toys and materials tested but at £60 per toy and £80 per material, this is quite a challenge.
Id like to make a website, so people can select a Teddy and the accessories required, and then this comes out on a printer in someone's house who can assemble the toy. This would allow me to scale, but I've been quoted £2.7k to make this site so it's just not possible.
3dtoyshop is now registered as a none profit and I'm now fundraising to help scale this from a hobby into something far greater than one person could ever achieve alone.
Your donation will help me achieve this dream. It will help fund machines, tools, teddies, plastic, safety tests, shipping, basically help me to grow 3dtoyshop into something even more amazing than it already is.
Your donation will help me achieve this dream. It will help fund machines, tools, teddies, plastic, safety tests, shipping, basically help me to grow 3dtoyshop into something even more amazing than it already is.
Organizer and beneficiary
Nick Hardman
Organizer
England
Nick Hardman
Beneficiary
