A New Look for Dolls Inspires Pretend Play

Tree Change Dolls are a great example of how families can breathe new life into old toys. When this mom repainted and redressed old Bratz dolls, the children who played with them were better able to relate to the dolls. 

One girl’s reaction to the Tree Change Dolls was “You can kind of think that they’re the same age as you.” It’s an eye-opening comment, for me as a parent. It’s a reminder that so many things marketed to children show a dramatized and often narrow version of what adulthood is supposed to be like.

The relationships children build with their toys are incredibly important to their development, since imaginary play is a way for children to explore their own emotions, perspectives, and roles in the world.

The Tree Change Dolls remind me of a doll conceived right here in Pittsburgh: Lammily, a doll with the proportions of an average 19-year-old girl. Little girls who met Lammily for the first time exclaimed, “She looks like my sister!" 

-Alysia

An Inspirational Pitch

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“Move over junk food!”

Fellow mom, entrepreneur and Carnegie Mellon alumna, Bobbie Rhoads, designed FunBites with the goal of making healthy food more fun for picky eaters.

Junk food marketers have been using shapes, characters, and bright colors to entice children for years. She is taking that strategy and putting it in the hands of parents!

Bobbie recently appeared on Shark Tank and, as a mom and entrepreneur myself, I was so moved by her passionate pitch :)

-Alysia

FunBites website: http://funbites.com/
Shark Tank Pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-bs-z7UwfA

Slow and Steady Wins

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We came across this adorable and inspirational little book: Lessons of a Turtle (The Little Book of Life) by Sandy Gingras.

“Thank goodness for rest stops.”
“How did time-out become a punishment?”
“Realism goes just so far…”

Her musings comes from her daily re-runnings of the classic “The Tortoise and the Hare” race.

This book reminded us of why we created Turtle Mail, and where it got its name. While coming up we ideas for cool tech toys for kids, we came across so many families who felt their children had no patience for the little things in life.

One of our early ideas involved sending children daily puzzle pieces - parents thought it was so cute! But many parents said their children would not and could not wait for something to arrive in the mail. Their kids expected everything instantly. A couple of parents were intrigued by the idea that such an experience might help their child slow down in life and appreciate the anxiousness that comes from waiting for something special to come your way.

Thus was born Turtle Mail: It’s faster than snail mail, but still beats the metaphorical hare in the end! With our version of “the Hare” being email and text ;)

You can view snippets of “Lessons of a Turtle” on Google Books.

-Alysia

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LEGOs are a perfect example of how children’s entertainment has changed from being a very active and creative process to being a passive and cookie cutter experience.

These blocks can be anything, it’s up to your imagination! But most toys and games hand kids a fixed storyline and an intended model, taking away much of those open-ended scenarios we grew up with.

We hope to bring back some more open-ended playtime for kids of Generation Z.

-Alysia

Hi everyone! We’re holding our first round of product testing for Turtle Mail

If you have a child between the ages of 3-11 and live in the Pittsburgh area, we invite you sign for a Play Date with Turtle Mail! We’ll be holding these Play Dates through mid-January.

We will introduce you and your child(ren) to Turtle Mail and it’s features, and send your child some personalized messages and activities. We’re looking forward to your feedback!

It was very exciting to watch fellow mom and founder, Vanessa, pitch Covey, and former classmates, Kyle and Luke, pitch Nebulus, at AlphaLab’s Demo Day!

Covey is a location-based social network for new moms. Nebulus is an online, realtime collaboration tool for musicians.

Niko and I are so happy to be a part of the AlphaLab network, and we’re feeling pretty inspired after seeing today’s presentations. We will have our turn at pitching AE Dreams and Turtle Mail at Demo Day in June 2015! 

-Alysia

The New York Times posted a great article concerning E-Books and digital reading time. Many of the benefits of story time come from the interactions and responses from parents. Even when parents are engaged in e-story time, much of their focus can end up being spent on the device itself rather than the story.

Story time is best used to spark a conversation between parents and their kids: “It’s being talked with, not being talked at.”

-Alysia