Child development toy
A child development toy including a box and a set of flexible sheets. The box defines an interior compartment and an aperture extending into the interior compartment through a side of the box. Each flexible sheet has a corner with a bounded slit surrounded by material of the sheet configured to receive the corner of another sheet inserted through the slit. The set of sheets is configurable as a chain of sheets. Each two adjacent sheets of the chain is releasably connected by a connection formed by a corner of one of the two adjacent sheets inserted into the slit of the other of the two adjacent sheets.
1. A child development toy comprising:
a box defining an interior compartment and an aperture extending into the interior compartment through a side of the box; and
a set of flexible sheets, each sheet having a corner and defining a bounded slit surrounded by material of the sheet and configured to receive the corner of another sheet inserted therethrough, such that the set of sheets is configurable as a chain of sheets, each two adjacent sheets of the chain being releasably connected by a connection formed by a corner of one of the two adjacent sheets inserted into the slit of the other of the two adjacent sheets, such that with the chain of sheets disposed within the interior compartment of the box with a last sheet of the chain extending through the aperture, a corner of a next-to-last sheet of the chain may be pulled through the aperture, followed by separation of the last sheet of the chain from the next-to-last sheet of the chain, by pulling on the last sheet of the chain.
2. The child development toy of claim 1 , wherein at least a majority of the sheets of the set of flexible sheets are disposed within the interior compartment.
3. The child development toy of claim 2 , wherein the sheets of the set of sheets are interconnected to form the chain of sheets.
4. The child development toy of claim 3 , wherein a corner of the last sheet of the chain extends through the aperture.
5. The child development toy of claim 1 , wherein the sheets of the set each have four side edges meeting at corners.
6. The child development toy of claim 5 , wherein the side edges are straight.
7. The child development toy of claim 5 , wherein the slit is disposed adjacent one of the corners.
8. The child development toy of claim 5 , wherein the sheets are each square.
9. The child development toy of claim 1 , wherein the sheets comprise fabric, and wherein the slit of each sheet is bounded by reinforced fabric.
10. The child development toy of claim 9 , wherein the reinforced fabric comprises stitching surrounding the slit.
11. The child development toy of claim 9 , wherein the sheets are launderable.
12. The child development toy of claim 9 , wherein at least a majority of the sheets consist of stitched fabric.
13. The child development toy of claim 1 , wherein the set of sheets includes sheets of differing colors or visual patterns.
14. The child development toy of claim 1 , wherein the set of sheet includes sheets of differing surface textures.
15. The child development toy of claim 1 , wherein the aperture is defined by a slit in a flexible surface of the box.
16. The child development toy of claim 15 , wherein the flexible surface is bounded by a rigid outer surface of the box within a single face of the box.
17. The child development toy of claim 15 , wherein the flexible surface comprises elastane.
18. The child development toy of claim 15 , wherein the slit in the flexible surface is defined by two intersecting lines, a first line defined between adjacent edges of two sheets, and a second line defined between adjacent edges of two other sheets overlaying the two sheets.
19. The child development toy of claim 1 , wherein the box has flat sides meeting at edges between corners.
20. The child development toy of claim 19 , wherein the box is square.
21. A method of setting up a child development toy for play, the method comprising:
interconnecting a set of flexible sheets to form a chain of sheets, by pulling a corner of each of all but one of the sheets through a slit of another of the sheets, leaving each of all but one of the sheets extending through the slit of another of the sheets;
placing the interconnected set of sheets in an interior compartment of a box; and then
pulling a corner of a last sheet of the chain of sheets through an aperture defined in a side of the box, while leaving a remainder of the last sheet and all other sheets of the chain of sheets disposed within the interior compartment.