Social distancing during the corona year 2020 has had a special impact on children's play behavior. Many children were forced to spend lots of time in front of their pc screen due to online education, which seemed to increase the need for physical, social games after school.

My daughter Mirte (8 years old at the time) liked to jump rope and wondered if it was not possible to adjust the length of her skipping rope, so that she could jump alone or with friends.

This question became the starting point of the Skibbi project. What if you could adjust the wire length by turning your handle, and what if you could coil up the entire wire? That would also give less mess after playing.

I visualized the idea and pitched it to toy brand Chillafish, who thought that the idea (an innovative twist on classic exercise toys) fitted well within their portfolio. In a short period of time, we developed the idea through to production, improving the user experience while testing. With the creator and her friends as a test panel, the bar was set high…

It was a fantastic experience to combine the ingenuity of children, the facilities of Rake Lijnen and the expertise of Chillafish.

Skibbi is the first product in a series of “socially connective toys” with which Rake Lijnen wants to offer a challenging alternative to online gaming and with which children can train their social and physical skills in a fun way.

The Skibbi will be available in several versions from October 2021 via Chillafish.com and Bol.com

Photo credits:

Understood.org, scharrelkidsclub.nl, boefenaap.nl en Chillafish.com