GB2269736A

GB2269736A - Play garment with colouring materials

Info

Publication number: GB2269736A
Application number: GB9317526A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Michael Stephen Farmers
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-08-21
Filing date: 1993-08-23
Publication date: 1994-02-23
Anticipated expiration: 2013-08-23
Also published as: GB9317526D0; GB2269736B

Abstract

The garment is worn by a child or adult, and the wearer of the garment or his or her play partner uses the colouring materials to apply to the garment a design simulating an animal, or popular cartoon figure and so on. The garment may be a smock, shirt, apron, boiler suit, playsuit or coverall, ideally with elasticated cuffs at the wrists and ankles and made of a material which is breathable and which takes the colouring material but is impervious to it. The colouring materials may be applied by painting, drawing or spraying. In addition to the garment, the kit may include gloves or mittens, shoes or boots, and masks or hoods, all being capable of being painted. The garment may be painted when laid out flat and fitted over a stiff card or board liner shaped to fit closely within the garment.

Description

Play Apparatus This invention relates to play apparatus and in particular, but not exclusively, to play apparatus for children in the age range of from 3 to 9 years to stimulate imaginative and creative play.

Children enjoy imaginative play such as dressing up but the range is somewhat limited by the collection of clothes available, and the creativity is restricted to selecting a particular combination of clothes. There is no opportunity for the child himself or herself to start from scratch and create a totally new image. Children also enjoy facepainting. This allows children rather more flexibility, but the effect is usually limited to the face.

I have designed a play system which allows children to decorate large areas of their body, thus giving an overall image, without the limitations of the existing schemes discussed above.

Accordingly, in one aspect of this invention, there is provided a play apparatus comprising a kit including a garment for being worn by a child or an adult, and a selection of colouring materials for being applied to said garment.

The garment may take many forms, for example a smock, a shirt, an apron, but the preferred form is a one-piece boiler suit, playsuit or coverall, ideally with elasticated cuffs at the wrist and ankle or other seals as appropriate.

Preferably the garment is manufactured from a sheet material which is breathable, and which takes the colouring material, yet is substantially impervious to the colouring material. The garment is preferably capable of being washed for re-use after a play session, but in some cases the garment may be disposable. A suitable material for the garment is TYVEK (TM) a synthetic material made by DUPONT, from oleo in fibres.

The kit preferably includes instructional material such as a book which shows the wearer or his or her play partner how to paint or draw on the garment to simulate a character, animal and so on. The instructional material may have pictures overlaid with a visual cue such as a grid or an outline of an animal or coloured region thereof which is also reproduced on the garment to make copying of the picture easier. The colouring materials may be applied in any suitable manner, e.g. painting, drawing, spraying.

Although the primary component of the kit is a body garment such as a boiler suit or coverall, it may further comprise gloves or mittens, shoes, boots or other footwear, and masks or hoods for the face or head, all being capable of being painted and, preferably, being cleanable afterwards for re-use with a blank base. In one preferred form the headgear would provide two faces, one to the front and the other to the rear, like Janus.

The colouring materials are preferably paints which are quick-drying and washable. Luminous paints that glow would be included in some kits.

A wide range of designs may be applied to the garment (with or without the instructional material).

The garment described may be painted on the wearer or laid out flat. There is some risk of paint too liberally applied soaking through the material and appearing blotchily on the wrong side.

To remedy this, at least for painting the garment before it is put on,a liner, or stiff card or board for example, may be provided which is shaped to fit closely within the garment when laid out flat.

Thus, if the garment is of boiler suit shape, this liner would resemble a gingerbread man.

Preferably, the liner will have an extension beyond the neck with provision, such as a hole or a hook formation, for hanging it on a peg or nail. Then it can also be used as a hanger for the garment when it is not use.

The invention also applies to other articles for use with the play apparatus, such as small structures which can be coloured to act a "props" for play, for example a framework with covering, which may be of washable material similar to that from which the garment is made.

Whilst the invention has been described above, it extends to any inventive combination of the above features.

The invention will now be further described in the following examples.

Example 1 A play kit or pack contains 2 or 3 garments, a selection of 3 basic paint colours and printed, or instructional material setting out a play idea. The play idea is a pre-printed theme, e.g.,"clowns", with pictures of clowns and a simple story line with colouring suggestions.

Example 2 In this example, the product is packaged for the professional market, for supplying customers such as playgroups, schools, and so on, wherever children play in large groups. Here the product is packed in separate components of larger quantities. For example play bins containing 20 or more garments of any given size and paint packs of volume colour may be grouped by theme. Story book painting ideas could be sold separately so a leader of a group could collect and re-use the ideas. These publications could bridge a gap by providing, in addition to ideas for showing to the children, positive group learning ideas as a direct aid to structured learning.

Claims

1. Play apparatus comprising a kit including a garment for being worn by a child or adult and a selection of colouring materials for being applied to said garment.

2. Play apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the garment comprises a boiler suit or coverall.

3. Play apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein said garment comprises a smock, shirt, or apron.

4. Play apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein said garment includes elasticated cuffs or seal regions at the wrist and/or ankle regions of the garment.

5. Play apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the garment is made at least partially of a sheet material which is breathable or vapour permeable yet is substantially impervious to the colouring material.

6. Play apparatus according to Claim 5, wherein the sheet material is woven or otherwise formed from a synthetic fibre.

7. Play apparatus according to Claim 6, including instructional material illustrating or representing selected designs of characters or animals for being applied to the garment.

8. Play apparatus according to Claim 7, wherein the garment includes visual cues such as a grid or outline of a design, for facilitating application of the design.

9. Play apparatus according to Claim 8, wherein the designs are applied by at least one of painting, drawing, and spraying.

10. Play apparatus according to any preceding claim, including one or more of gloves, mittens, shoes, boots, or other footwear, capable of having colouring material applied thereto, and for use with said garment.

11. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the colouring materials include paints.

12. Apparatus according to Claim 12, wherein the paints are quick drying and washable.

13. Apparatus according to Claim 12 or 13, wherein the paints are luminous and/or fluorescent.

14. Apparatus according to any preceding claim, including a liner shaped to fit within the garment when laid out flat.

15. Apparatus according to Claim 14, wherein the liner includes a portion which projects from the garment and provided with means for attaching it to a peg, nail, rail or other suitable element.

16. Play apparatus according to Claim 13, wherein said attachment means comprises a hook or hole.

17. Play apparatus according to any preceding claim, including means for constructing one or more structures each made up of a support frame means and a fabric cover for receiving colouring materials.

18. Play apparatus according to any preceding claim, including one or more face paints.

19. Play apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described, with reference to Examples 1 and 2.