At Industrial Packaging, we have seen our fibre drums used across a wide range of industries and applications. Occasionally, however, a collaboration reveals an entirely new application for one of our products.
Discovery Drum® is one such example. Developed by Bray-based special education teacher Úna Curran, it demonstrates how a fibre drum traditionally associated with packaging can be adapted into a practical sensory and learning resource.
To learn more about Discovery Drum®, visit www.discoverydrum.com.
An idea rooted in classroom experience
Úna has more than 20 years’ experience working with autistic and neurodivergent young people in post-primary education. She also holds postgraduate qualifications in special education and autism, along with a master’s degree in Special Educational Needs.
The idea for Discovery Drum® emerged through her work in the classroom rather than as a commercial product concept.
Úna’s connection with manufacturing began much earlier. Her father founded Key Plastics, and she spent much of her childhood around the family’s plastic manufacturing business, which is now run by her brothers. As children, Úna and her siblings often played with the polypropylene beads used in the manufacturing process.
Years later, Úna brought her autism class to visit the factory. During a tour led by her father, the students became fascinated by the beads. They were instinctively drawn to the beads, enjoying the deep proprioceptive input they provided.
Úna subsequently borrowed a fibre drum from Industrial Packaging and brought it back to her classroom. From that point, the drum became part of her teaching practice.
Developed through years of everyday use
The original drum remained in Úna’s classroom for years before she considered developing it as a product.
Students used it as a calming transition activity and enjoyed the soothing sound created as the beads moved around the drum—similar to waves washing over a shingle beach. Over time, Úna incorporated literacy, numeracy and communication activities, expanding the drum’s role beyond sensory engagement.
Its development was shaped through everyday classroom use and the responses of hundreds of students. Visitors to Úna’s classroom regularly asked where they could purchase one, leading her to recognise its potential as a cleaner, more durable alternative to some of the traditional sensory materials used in classrooms and therapy settings.
Turning the concept into a product
When Úna decided to develop Discovery Drum® into a product, working with Industrial Packaging was a natural choice. We had supplied the original fibre drum, and our Bray location allowed the project to be supported locally.
Together, the drum was redesigned for its intended use with children. The finished version incorporates a custom size and smooth protective rim, while retaining the sustainable cardboard construction of the original fibre drum.
As part of the process of bringing Discovery Drum® to market, the product underwent comprehensive safety and compliance testing. It has been tested to meet the applicable EN 71 and BS EN 71 safety standards and complies with the EU Toy Safety Directive 2009/48/EC and the UK Toys (Safety) Regulations 2011.
Discovery Drum® is assembled locally in Bray, Co. Wicklow and is now used in schools, therapy settings and homes.
The wider development of the product has been a community effort. In addition to support from Industrial Packaging, Key Plastics and Úna’s family, a former student designed the Discovery Drum® logo.
Supporting regulation, communication and learning
Discovery Drum® has been developed as an open-ended and adaptable resource that can be incorporated into different sensory, communication and learning activities. Its website also provides practical guidance on structured teaching, including ways the drum can be used within work systems, visual schedules and activities supporting learning and emotional regulation.
What distinguishes Discovery Drum® is the depth of classroom experience behind its development:
- Designed by a practising special education teacher
- Developed through years of classroom use
- Suitable for a range of sensory and learning activities
- Adaptable for use from primary age through adulthood
- Used in educational, therapeutic and home settings
At the heart of the product is Úna’s belief that people should have access to engaging and age-appropriate sensory supports. Her aim is to make emotional regulation practical, accessible and enjoyable while giving educators, therapists and families the flexibility to use the resource in ways that suit their own settings.
A significant milestone came when Úna was invited by the Middletown Centre for Autism to showcase Discovery Drum® at its Best Practice Day. The invitation provided an opportunity to share a resource that had originated in her classroom with experienced professionals working in the field.
Discovery Drum® was officially launched at the 14th Autism-Europe International Congress, held at the RDS in Dublin in September 2025. Over three days, the event brought together autistic people, researchers, educators and other professionals from across Europe to explore quality of life in research, policy and practice. The Discovery Drum® exhibition stand allowed attendees to experience the resource first-hand and gave Úna the opportunity to share the classroom experience and ideas behind its development with a wider audience.
A new application shaped by experience
Industrial Packaging is proud to have played a part in the Discovery Drum® journey and to support a local female entrepreneur working to promote neurodiversity within education.
For us, the project demonstrates what can happen when practical experience, local expertise and an adaptable product come together. A fibre drum traditionally associated with packaging has been transformed into a sensory and learning resource—developed not from a commercial trend, but through years of working directly with autistic and neurodivergent students.
Discovery Drum® is a particularly unusual application, but the process behind it is one we recognise: beginning with a specific need and adapting the right product to meet it.
If you have an unconventional application in mind or a packaging challenge that requires a different approach, talk to the Industrial Packaging team. We are always interested in exploring where the flexibility of fibre drums might lead next.