product design
Food Game
Soothe pain, build good habits.
The Problem
Babies explore the world mouth-first, touching and tasting nearly everything as part of how they make sense of their surroundings, which is why teething toys exist. The toy industry mostly responds with cute, rounded shapes in bright colors, without much thought to what that first object association is actually teaching a baby.
The Competition
Chicco, a baby-care company with 60 years of observational design research, was running a competition for a new teether collection spanning five product lines across four age groups, unified under one mood board, all designed to soothe irritated gums at every stage of teething.
Why It Mattered
Existing teether concepts on the market lean heavily on dessert shapes — cupcakes, burgers, donuts. Since junk food is already everywhere and easy to reach, and teething lands right at the start of a baby's earliest learning window, I wanted this collection to nudge the opposite direction: toward the colors and forms of real, healthy food instead.
Research
The concept is grounded in attachment theory: babies form real attachments to objects the way they do to people, starting with the breast, their first source of food and safety (Ainsworth, 1969). A teether soothing real pain could become its own attachment object, which made its shape matter more than it first seemed. If a baby was going to attach to something, shaping that something like healthy food felt like a meaningful nudge toward better habits later. I don't have a background in baby care, so this was almost entirely literature-based research, supplemented by talking to as many parents as I could find.
How might we provide sensory experiences for infants and soothe their gum pain while guiding their behavior in the future towards food?
The Solution: Five Teething Lines
Soothing Line
For the earliest stage, when breast milk is the only food; shaped around milk imagery for an international audience.
Chews Line
Shaped after mouth-associated tools, like a toothbrush and spoon.
Cooling Line
Inspired by root vegetables; a refrigerable core, silicone shell, and cotton grip that also wipes drool.
On-the-Go Line
Blends the idea of something "outside" becoming food.
Sensory Line
Inspired by mushrooms, with a compartment for purée so taste joins the sensory experience.
Prototyping
I built 3D-printed molds and cast silicone inside them for working prototypes close to a manufactured feel.
Results
Food Game didn't win Chicco's grand prize, but it held up as a strong month-long project with a real point of view — using early sensory attachment to nudge toward healthier associations, grounded in real research rather than picking cute shapes.
Let's make what's next.
Have a challenge, an idea, or a what-if? My inbox is open!
© 2027 Pınar Adanır.
Curious & intentional.