Development

I looked around for some sort of squishy ball/object that has small holes in it, and that when squeezed lets out air but then returns back to its origional shape.  I found a dogs toy that whistles through the hole in the bottom when squeezed. 
Origionally my plan was to put the sherbet into the toy through the hole in the bottom, poke several small holes in the top of the toy, in the hopes that when squeezed the sherbet would poof out the holes in the top. 
However when I put the sherbet inside I found out that the sherbet actually poofed out the bottom but didn't whistle. 
The only problem with this toy was that its too large and the sherbet only occasionally came out.  And I also wanted a ball rather than a hamburger toy.

I then began searching for a smaller object than the dogs toy, in the shape of a ball.  I found the above squishy ball that when squeezed also returned to its origional shape.  It didn't have a small enough hole in the top to make the sherbet poof out though.  So I removed the plug from the dogs toy (that made it whistle) and placed it in the the top of this ball.  I found it dispensed the sherbert better than the dogs toy but that it still only did it occasionally as the ball was too long.

After searching for more, thinner objects that do the same as the above two, I found some small bath toys in the shapes of animals.  When I placed the sherbet in them, they dispensed it exactly how I wanted and I realised that these were the perfect size for what I wanted it to do.  As these were a lot smaller than the palm of your hand I realised having my object in the shape of a ball became a lot less interesting. 

Origionally I just got the bath toys to test whether the size of them would be correct.  But when I handed the toys to people to try out, everyone seemed a lot more fasinated by the bath toys than a plain white ball.  The colours and shapes made people want to interact with it a lot more. 

I also thought about the age groups that would most likely interact with my object.  Which would be younger kids who like spending their pocket money on sweets at the dairy.  Thinking about this, I realised the animal shapes and colours would also appeal to this audience a lot more than a simple ball.  I tested this by asking some young kids and I was right they preferred interacting with the bath toys.

Origionally I was only going to have one small object that dispensed the sherbet but looking at the colours of the toys ( pink, yellow, orange and blue) I noticed they all resemble quite distinct flavours (strawberry, lemon, orange and blueberry).  So I then decided to make 4 different flavoured sherbets and place them in toys according to their colour.  I thought that having more than one would be a lot more interesting to interact with as they are quite small.

When I first made the sherbet I added raro which isn't coloured therefore the sherbert turned out white.  I thought that it would have a sweet smell as it contains raro and icing sugar but it didn't have a smell at all. 
I showed the sherbet to several people without actually telling them what it was and asked them whether they would eat this.  All the responses I got were that they wouldn't because it looks like flour.

Therefore instead of using raro I decided to use jelly crystals as they are coloured.  They don't add much more of a smell than the raro but I don't think my object needs to, as it might become too much, including too many senses.  I then asked several people again whether they would try this coloured powder not knowing what it was.  A lot more people said they would as the colour gives the impression it's sweet.

When trying to think of a name to call these four, animal shaped, sherbet dispensers, I decided on "Sherbet Pooftas".  It's a quirky name that would draw in my target market of young kids and it discribes the object well.  The main idea of the object is to eat the sherbet, which poofs out.