Their products may be sold worldwide, but Learning Resources’ innovative ideas are all-American!
The family-owned toy company prides itself on making fun products 100 percent in-house and has found major benefits in doing so.
“By having the product development team in-house, we own and control all aspects of our products from concept to production, and we can make sure that all our products are educationally sound and up to our quality standards,” said Barb Plain of Learning Resources. “It also allows us to be nimble and react relatively quickly to changes in the marketplace.”
The company, which is a global leader in the educational toy space, has 6 inventors on its product development team. From the initial sketch of an idea on paper, to developing a prototype, to play testing to make sure it’s fun for kids, the team has created more than 60 exciting new products this year alone, including the STEM Engineering & Design: Building Set Playground which won best new S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) toy at the London Toy Fair last month.
“The best part about being a toy inventor, and specifically an educational toy inventor, is knowing that the work I do is contributing something of value in this world,” said Product Development Specialist Tom Runtz. “There are few professions I can think of where at the end of the day you can say with certainty that because of the work you’ve done, somewhere there’s a child whose day was made just a little brighter because of it. Plus, my son thinks I’m super-cool because I make toys for a living.”
Some of the other 2017 teaching toys that Runtz and his team have created include a 3-D Puzzle Globe with removable continents and names; the 1-2-3 Build It set that allows kids to construct either a car, boat, or plane using the same pieces; and an adorable, stack and build robot for toddlers called TotBot that teaches early STEM concepts to kids as young as two.
Learning Resources will be debuting larger-than-life versions of these new toys at NY Toy Fair 2017 later this week. Make an appointment today to see their new products and interview the toy inventors!