Here are some of the main decisions you should make to start planning your toy hack:
Selecting the Size of the Event
In our experience, smaller events (under 15 people) are easier to organize and host, unless you have more than three people who are experienced at adapting toys. A ratio of more than 5:1 people inexperienced with toy adaptation to those who are can be too many for all of them to receive the help that they need. This number is based on a group of people who are mostly already familiar with soldering, and may need to be lowered to 2-3:1 if you are teaching many participants how to solder.
We have hosted events with 12, 35, and 8 people. At our largest event, the thirteen small groups proved too many for the three of us who have experience to assist as much as was needed.
Additionally, a smaller toy hack requires less equipment such as soldering irons, etc. Even if such an event is held twice to produce more toys, the event would require less of these tools. One strategy is to count up the amount of soldering irons you and your organization will have access to. Then, host twice the number of people as the number of soldering irons you have. For example, if you can get 5 soldering irons from your school, you can decide to have 10 guests and have them work in pairs.
Toys
We recommend that you practice hacking a toy using your chosen method so you can help participants.
If you will be providing the toys to hack at an event, we strongly recommend sticking to only one or two toys and becoming an "expert" by practicing hacking them a few times. This will make you familiar with common problems, and make it easier to help guests troubleshoot when they get stuck.
The other option is to have each guest bring their own toy to solder. In this case, allow for more time, since each person will have to figure out the details of their unique toy.
We recommend having people work in pairs. If some attendees have prior experience soldering or hacking toys, pair them with those who have less experience.
In a four-hour-long event, we found that pairs of two are able to hack 1 or 2 toys. Having a few extras for ambitious or experienced pairs is a good idea.
Instructions
We recommend sending your guests how-to videos that they can watch before the event to prepare, including:
How to hack the specific toy you are providing, OR how to hack toys in general
If you are in a classroom with a screen or projector, consider also showing these videos at the beginning of your event.
These resources include instructions on how to hack hundreds of toys, in written and video format.
If everyone at your event will be working on the same one or two toys, print out instructions for each person, or each pair that is working together, including:
Instructions on making the switch
Instructions on preparing an audio jack
Instructions for the specific toy you are providing, OR how to hack toys in general
For each of these, consider including a QR code or link to a video they can pull up on their phones. If you have experience hacking toys, this might seem repetitive, but it will allow them to navigate back and forth through the steps as they work on their toy.
To Solder or Not to Solder?
Soldering uses a hot metal rod (soldering iron) to melt thin strips of metal (solder) in order to securely connect wires together.
Soldering is the most reliable and least expensive way to connect the wires you will need to connect inside the toys. However, it requires either previous experience, or the time and patience to learn a new skill. Additionally, it involves safety risks, including burns (soldering irons get up to 600 or 700 degrees F) and the use of lead (lead-free solder is an option, although it still contains some lead).
You should never solder with or near anyone who might touch a hot iron, or might touch their mouth, face, or food after touching the solder. This includes children.
We recommend these resources to learn how to solder:
Solderless options will be more expensive and more likely to come undone after a while, but easier to learn and safer.
Solderless options include:
Wire nuts
Piggyback Connectors
B Connectors
Wago Connectors
Terminal Blocks
Battery Interrupters
The organization Santa’s Little Hackers has a tutorial that goes over how to use B connectors to adapt toys. The section on B Connectors starts at 5:40 in the video.
Battery interrupters allow you to add a female jack to a toy without modifying the toy at all, but they only work on some toys, and may not be as strong.
Audio Jacks
Audio jacks are standard for use in Assistive Technology (AT). To adapt toys, you will add a female audio jack in parallel with the switch the toy already has to switch it on and off.
The switch you use (details in the next section) will have a male audio jack.
There are a few different options for buying audio jack connectors. The easiest and most expensive solution is to purchase audio jacks that are already attached to wires with stripped ends.
The more cost effective option is to solder wires to the audio jacks. Audio jacks come in a few different configurations, but only mono jacks are compatible with AT devices. Generally, stereo jacks are less expensive and it is not very difficult to modify them into mono jacks. See the Preparing the Audio Jack guide for more information.
In the past, we have had issues with purchasing faulty audio jacks from Amazon.com. We highly recommend looking into more reputable vendors, like Adafruit. No matter what, it is important to test your audio jacks ahead of time.
If you are planning a high volume event, you could look into automating the testing process with this testing device from AT Makers.
Switches
You do not necessarily need to provide switches with the toys that you hack. Most organizations and many individuals that use switch-adapted toys will already have access to a switch that works for them.
However, if you have access and experience with a 3D printer, including a homemade switch with each toy is considerate. It can be more convenient for the user not to have to move a switch between toys to use different toys. Additionally, some special education teachers may want to associate different switches with different toys to encourage their students to make choices between different resulting stimuli.
You can make your switches yourself using this guide from AT Makers. They have files to print on Thingiverse.
You can purchase switches already manufactured, but they are much more expensive, so making them with a 3D printer can save a significant amount of money.
One popular brand is Ablenet, which sells them for $65 on their own website and on Amazon. You may be able to purchase a less expensive switch from Etsy in order to test your modified toys, but it will take longer to arrive than ordering from Amazon. Enabling Devices has several options but runs more expensive than Ablenet.
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