Your social buddy from cardboard
With Maatje, children can build their own toy from cardboard boxes. The possibilites are limitless! Learn moreWhat others say
A personal buddy
Maatje is a kit that offers an activity that lets children create their own buddy that accommodates to their personal social needs. Children develop at different paces. Some children are lagging behind in their socio-emotional development compared to their peers. Get to know their social needs and values better together through the activity of building a Maatje.
Needs and Values
Translate social needs into a tangible buddy
Creating
Craft something personal that fits the values
Presenting
Present why the buddy is meaningful
Carefully developed
for children with needs
Supports expressing social needs and values. Aimed at children of 5-15 years old, Maatje can be fun for anyone. Maatje is developed for care farms and special education, but could be meaningful for any child with social needs.
Open-ended, sustainable &
gender-neutral
Through carefully designed cardboard boxes, reusable assembly material and ambiguous decoration, a buddy can be made for every child, either by themselves of with the aid of a caretaker. The Maatje toolkit comes with enough materials to give up to four children their personalized buddy.
How does it work
Maatje in the spotlights
Press releases
UT Students create gender-neutral toy 'Maatje'
UToday, 28 / 07 / 2021
Children should be empowered to express themselves through play
Design United, 4TU. October 2021
1. Creating
Your Maatje starts with creating. The Maatje kit allows children to translate their social needs and values into a tangible buddy, on their own or with the aid of a caretaker.
2. Presenting
After building their Maatje, children present what they have made to you, the caretaker. This can provide valuable insight and helps the children think about why such a buddy is meaningful to them.
3. Bonding
The best thing about a fully customized buddy that fits your wishes? You can take it home! Maatje allows children to whisper their secrets, put letters in its belly or to play with it. Maatje is there for them to talk to at home when they do not have another friend around.
What’s next?
Because of the overwhelming interest in the concept of Maatje, next steps of development and/or production are currently being discussed.
Want to contribute to the discussion? Do you have cool ideas or possibilities to collaborate? Leave us a message!
The Maatje kit
Note that this kit is not yet commercially available. Want to contribute or collaborate? Fill in the contact form below!
Guide
This guide will explain what you need to make your own Maatje kit. Including instructions, tips and tricks, an overview of the Maatje-kit and inspiration for your own Maatje.
Boxes
The Maatje kit contains five boxes for every child. One of each type, and two of the smallest one. The different shapes allow for a wide variety of combinations, and the draft angles add extra dynamics. You can build houses, vehicles, animals or fantasy creatures – you name it!
Punchers & screws
To tightly connect the boxes together, the kit contains plenty screws and hole punchers. Simply punch a hole at the right spots in a box, insert a single- or double-threaded screw and connect the boxes!
The elliptical screw head with ribbing makes screwdrivers reductant: any child can simply secure the screw in place with their bare hands.
Shapes
To refine the rough shape of the boxes, 2D cardboard shapes are used. These shapes are purposely being abstract and ambiguous, in order to stimulate creativity and allow them to be used for different purposes. Each kit contains four sheets with 2D shapes – enough to cover your buddy in fancy details!
Decoration
To decorate the buddies after being assembled, the Maatje kit contains various decorative elements, including crayons, straws, colored paper and a permanent marker. In case these can not be attached with the screws, glue is provided as well.
Although the kit can be used on its own, it is more fun to add your own decorative materials to it!
Having trouble?
No access to a laser cutter or a 3D printer? Our boxes, screws and shapes are designed for creating a large variety of Maatje in a sustainable way, but the activity can be executed with any cardboard boxes using glue as a connection.
Keep in touch!
Any questions about Maatje? Or do you want the files to host your own Maatje activity? Leave us a message!