Play material comprising a flexible fabric envelope filled with crumpled plastic film

Abstract

An interactive development toy for infants and children is provided comprising a flexible fabric envelope filled with a crumpled plastic film to provide a three-dimensional structure to the envelope. The envelope may include a fabric mesh through which the crumpled plastic film may by easily viewed when inserted. The shape of the envelope is immaterial, although in the preferred embodiment the envelope includes at least one edge element that may be easily grasped by an infant. Also in the preferred embodiment, the crumpled plastic film comprises a thin plastic film. Biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate (boPET) polyester film has been found to be effective for this application due to its high tensile strength, iridescence, reflectivity, safety, springiness (memory), light weight, and crackling sound on handling. Many other plastic films also have these features, and perform comparably.

1 . An interactive development toy for infants and children comprising a flexible, easily deformable fabric envelope filled with a crumpled plastic film to provide a three-dimensional structure to said envelope, which crumpled plastic film produces an audible sound in response to deformation thereof. 
   
   
       2 . The development toy of  claim 1 , wherein said envelope comprises a fabric mesh through which said crumpled plastic film may by easily viewed when inserted. 
   
   
       3 . The development toy of  claim 1 , wherein said envelope comprises a transparent material through which said crumpled plastic film may by easily viewed when inserted. 
   
   
       4 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein said envelope includes at least one edge element that may be easily grasped by an infant. 
   
   
       5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein said crumpled plastic film comprises a thin plastic film. 
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein said thin plastic film comprises biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate polyester film. 
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein said fabric envelope comprises a geometrically shaped object having a plurality of graspable edges. 
   
   
       8 . An interactive development toy for infants and children comprising a flexible, easily deformable fabric envelope having at least one edge element that may be easily grasped by an infant, said envelope being filled with a crumpled plastic film to provide a three-dimensional structure to said envelope, which crumpled plastic film produces an audible sound in response to deformation thereof, wherein said envelope comprises a fabric mesh through which said crumpled plastic film may by easily viewed when inserted, and further wherein said crumpled plastic film comprises biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate polyester film.