Hello. I’m Alison, the founder of Izziwizzi Kids. I’m new to blogging, but the more I’m learning about it I thought it would be a really good opportunity to try out some fun stuff and to tell you about why I set up Izziwizzi Kids and what my plans are for the future.
Back in December 2005 I had a 2 year old son (Alex, now 3) and I was searching for imaginative Christmas Gifts for Children that were not over the top with Characters, Heavy Branding and that did not follow all the typical brash plastic stuff that is so widely available in the shops. The main thing I was looking for was a baking set that would be suitable for a 2 year old boy. I can remember baking with my mum as a kid. A great life skill and there is so much to learn, but in the 1970′s we were awash with Tupperware. In 2007, we are awash with posh glassware mixing bowls. Aside from having the worry of Alex standing on a chair and worrying about him falling off. I had the additional worry of the mixing bowl being too heavy and falling onto his toes. All the baking sets I’ve found so far have been girl orientated, or really cheesy. If anyone has seen any good sets, let me know as I’d love to stock baking sets. All our baking stuff currently is sold as separate parts. We’ve got a brilliant learning tower that gets around the problem of young kids slipping off chairs too see http://www.izziwizzikids.co.uk/products/156. The picture at the bottom of this post is me and Alex demonstrating the Learning Tower in a Kitchen Showroom. It was great fun. My instructions were Alex lets mix flower and water and make as much mess as possible. Of course Alex was only happy to oblige, but the showroom look worse for ware by the end of it.
The next thing I found as I was looking around for perfect children’s Christmas Presents was that there were not many toys in the market that were really suited to children between the age of 18 months and 3 years. I found that the toys were either too babyish, or labelled with the unsafe due to small parts. Very few manufacturers seem to have taken on the challenge to look at the skills, qualities and interests of toddlers and develop products that are suitable. This is a gap that we are really conscious about filling. Lots of toy shops sell super toys, but all too often the toys are for age 3+.
Another thing was as a busy working parent, I wanted to find activities where I could have lots of fun playing with my kids and not the emphasis of just keeping them busy. I am also surrounded by teachers in my daily life who are constantly telling me that parents don’t do enough to help their kids learn. But as a busy working parent, I want the best for my kids but when I was working in bid writing all day, I would come home and often be stuck for ideas. Also a lot of the toys labelled as educational I found were not particularly educational unless I knew what to do with them such as the peg board, the abacus etc.
My sister-in-law is a qualified experienced teacher who works within a school nursery. She has developed Izziwizzi Guides to go with our educational toys, to give tips and ideas for bringing out the educational value of our educational toys. I wanted to go the extra mile, rather than just labelling a toy as educational, creating the means by which it becomes truly interactive, engaging and educational.
My final point is that in the world generally there seems to be a general shift towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility e.g. with the emergence of Fair Trade. The introduction of the WEEE regulations i.e. recycling facilities for battery powered games is a step in the right direction. But I’m not sure that the toy industry in general is doing enough towards making toys more sustainable in respect of materials, manufacturing conditions, making toys that last and grow with children. The general trend seems to be on short life span and being disposable whilst using environmentally damaging materials.
I have received funding to research and develop a range of Izziwizzi Kids branded toys. I’d be interested to find out what you think about these ideas and issues. As we are researching and developing the products I would really like your input.
So let me know what you think, whether you agree or disagree, whether you have things to add etc. I look forward to posting more stuff and hearing from you.
