OXO Utensils

Developmental Kitchenware | OXO tot

A line of spoons and forks that support independent feeding, encourage mealtime confidence, and comfortably introduce tots to utensil use.

This product was released in September 2025. Design licensed by OXO.

Mealtime Confidence

Utensils for Early Self-Feeding

The OXO tot dipper spoon, mini spoon, and mini fork are a line of utensils designed by ELEVEN for OXO. They are the result of thorough user research and studies conducted to explore how parents are engaging with the baby-lead weaning philosophy to help guide their child's learning and early development.

I worked on these utensils over the course of two years while I was an industrial designer at ELEVEN a design firm with 3 decades of delivering thoughtful, user-centered designs to consumers around the world.

Design Lead: Aidan Rosario

Project Manager: Mike McDuffee

Mechanical Engineering: Doug Marsden, John Earle

Baby-Led Weaning

Expanding OXO's Presence

Baby-Led Weaning is a childhood nutrition philosophy that encourages parents to let their infants feed themselves. The practice pairs food types, consistencies, and bite sizes with age ranges that are appropriate for each developmental stage (usually 6mo-2yrs). By learning to feed themselves, children have more agency to eat as much or as little as they like, more opportunities to develop hand coordination and wrist dexterity, and a stronger sense of independence and confidence around mealtime.

New Product Suite

OXO tot — Released Sept. 2025

Beloved household brand OXO approached ELEVEN llc. in 2022 to develop a line of tools and utensils for OXO tot's expansion into Baby-Led Weaning. Informed by a deep market audit, our team developed a pair of Travel Scissors, a Crinkle Cutter, a silicone Textured Plate, and three distinct utensils designed to match the unique needs of Baby-Led Weaning's philosophy and approach.

A Tool for Every Stage

Utensils for Early Self-Feeding

These developmental utensils serve the early phases of Baby-Led Weaning, easing infants' transition from finger-feeding to full size utensil use. The unique ergonomic and fine motor control limitations for the age range (6mo to 24mo) are addressed through a human-centered 3-step process:

A dipper spoon helps infants establish a relationship between a utensil and their food, and it helps them practice moving food from their plate to their mouth.
A low-profile spoon encourages infants to practice balancing food while the soft tip prevents injury.
A low-profile fork is the final stage of development once infants are ready to carefully manipulate utensils to feed themselves a wider variety of food.

Spoons for Little Hands

Exploratory Ideation

We explored dozens of potential avenues for innovation for OXO, each tackling a range of user pain points we identified from our in house research and long-term studies conducted by outside consultants. Through these early sketch ideations we narrowed our development down to a three-part system of utensils that help ease infants into learning mealtime fundamentals.

Ergonomic Refinement

Prototyping and Evaluation

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User-Centered Findings

User Research and Validation

The research team at ELEVEN conducted several in home tests with parents to learn how our early prototypes were solving parent's needs. Qualitative findings from these studies helped to inform the refinement, ergonomics, and final execution of the BLW utensils and suite as a whole.

Non-Circular Cross Section Trains Grip at an Early Age

Enough Space on Handle for Parent to Pass Spoon to Child

Gently Curved Handle is Easier to Pick Up

Shallow Bowl Fits Smaller Mouths

Ridged Tip Retains Soft Food

Rigid Tines Simplify Forking Slippery Food

Dipper

Texture Reinforces Self Feeding (9-12mo)

Spoon

Shallow Scoop Fits Small Mouths (12-24mo)

Fork

Rigid Tines for Reliable Use (12-24mo)

Confident Scooping

Features

The Dipper Spoon serves a transitional role in the Baby-Led Weaning process. The textured, delicately ridged spoon increases food retention regardless of orientation, and the comfortably shaped handle encourages spoon use for infants who are not old enough for solid foods and are still developing the fine motor control needed for regular spoon use.

ridges catch soft food

gentle texture soothes sensitive gums

safer snacking with a flared neck

dimple provides
stable base

Anti-Roll Design

Features

A well-balanced handle cross section and a supplemental dimple on the base of the handle helps keep the utensil from tipping over once placed on a table or tray.

Solid Core, Soft Outer

Materials and Construction

Each utensil features as food-safe glass-filled-nylon core that provides rigidity to the precisely developed handle curve. The grip is composed of high-quality food-safe silicone that provides a comfortable, textured touch point. The tips of the spoon and dipper are allowed to flex for infant safety and scooping ease. The fork tines are exposed glass-filled nylon to enable reliable use.