Jens Peter de Pedro

Jens Peter de Pedro

Why we must go beyond pink and blue

How is it that we accept that there is such a thing as separate Happy Meal toys for girls and boys? Dividing children up like this would be unthinkable along cultural or ethnic lines. Yet we think it’s fair to assume that children of different genders play in opposite ways. We design tools for play as if there is no overlap in girls’ and boys’ interests. This limits children’s possibilities to reach their full potential and develop into complete human beings. We ought to design and market toys in a way that gives children maximum freedom to play anyway they want!

About Jens Peter de Pedro

Jens Peter is a Play Designer at Toca Boca, the digital toy power house. He is the mastermind behind apps such as Toca Hair Salon, Toca Band, Toca Kitchen, Toca Train, and Helicopter Taxi. Jens Peter has worked for organizations such as The United Nations, WGBH Boston and Swedish Television.

Jens Peter has a Masters in Interactive Telecommunications from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, 1999. He also received a Bachelors degree from Stockholm University in Psychology, Education and Children’s Culture, 1997.

Jens Peter likes cheap food, playing basketball and going for walks in desolate industrial areas. He also enjoys rhyming to a beat under the pseudonym Dude’s a Rapper. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters.

Jens is pronounced Yens.