During the initial visit to Ira B. Jones elementary school the physical therapist mentioned that some of the students had rather serious issue with balance, and that when practicing balance they would often get easily distracted and not show interest in the balance practice. As a result, we sought to create a low cost tool that would be simple to use, store, and set up that would be helpful in practicing balance while also being at least somewhat entertaining for the children to use so that they would get distracted less. We decided that a variation of a balance board that we have called "balance bowls". We also decided that to improve on the already existing tool, we would make it so it had adjustable difficulty so that it would work for different children.

Step 1: Brainstorming and Designing

We started by trying to come up with how we could incorporate adjustable difficulty. We decided that the best way would be to have multiple round sections of different sizes to change difficulty. In order to ensure that the balance bowls are easy to store, it was important that the different sized bowls could stack.

Step 2: Prototyping

We decided to design a prototype in Autodesk Inventor in order to determine how it will work functionally. We designed a system where each bowl would have a lid and stack them all together. The lids would be designed to be stood on, and the lids would be held on by notches that would allow vertical movement so the lid could be removed, but not side to side movement. This means the lid would be held in place by the person standing on it. However this solution ended up being ineffective. The primary two reasons were that we were unable to make the lid and bowl fit together perfectly with the Inventor Parts. The second reason is we were unable find materials that would allow us to effectively recreate this at full size.

Step 3: Search for Materials

After we arrived at the conclusion that our initial design would not work due to material restraints, we began the search for materials that would function. We arrived at the conclusion that we could use mixing bowls of various sizes attached to a circular board. We ordered the mixing bowls online, and picked up the round board from Home Depot, where it was already being sold and did not require a custom order.

Step 4: Second Prototype

For the second prototype we took our largest mixing bowl, which was the easiest one to use, and attached it to the round board. At this point we were yet to decide on how we could attach the bowl and board together in a manor that would be easy to detach and reattach, so for this prototype we used duct tape.

Step 5: Testing and Feedback

We took the prototype to Ira B. Elementary School to be used by the students and examined by the teachers. The students were very entertained by it, and enjoyed using it. However there was a mild safety concern, as the fall from the balance bowl was quite high. As a result the students required physical support while using the device. Short of safety concerns however, the teachers seemed satisfied with the project.

Step 6: Improvement

In response to the concerns about safety, we decided to add an apparatus around the mixing bowl that the students could hold onto. After a little bit of debate we decided to make this apparatus out of PVC pipe. We also chose heavy duty Velcro from home depot as the method through which we attached the mixing bowls to the board. This proved easy and effective.

Step 7: Final Product

Overall the project proved successful. For anyone who wishes to replicate or improve this product, we would recommend that you use a thicker PVC pipe than 1 inch, as the 1 inch pipe proved a bit wobbly and required reinforcements. We would also recommend that the strips of Velcro used for attachment be at least half an inch in width on the board size, because the small width of the Velcro has resulted in mild degradation through use, and concern about longevity of the product without maintenance.