The Expanding Role of Toys in Education and Parenting
What toy brand marketers need to know about the future of toys
Toys have always held a central space in the lives of children as they allow kids to explore new ways of thinking, learn valuable skills via play, and most importantly, have fun while doing it. Toys are also valuable to parents, for they grant a respite from the stressful tasks of parenting and allow them to focus on themselves for a while.
This year, the value of toys to both kids and their parents has been amplified by the stay-at-home orders and school closures, with a special spotlight on educational toys. With the holiday season ramping up, here’s what toy brands and marketers should know about this year’s defining toy trends.
Toys Saw a Pandemic Boost as Parents Look for Screen Alternatives
Play is how children learn to socialize and be creative, and toys play a major role in children’s lives and their mental development. Increasingly, however, a digital-native generation is being raised on screens — a 2019 study found that daily use of television, computers, and mobile devices by children increased threefold from age one to three. Digital screens, with their infinite possibilities, are quickly becoming the ultimate toy for kids around the world.
This year, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting school closures and stay-at-home orders, kids are taking online lessons and spending more time on screens than ever. A May 2020 survey of more than 3,000 parents found that screen time for their kids had increased by 500% during the pandemic.
Experts and parents worry that the increased screen time may prevent kids from forming healthier and more creative behaviors such as reading or imaginative play. To counteract increased screen time, parents turned to non-digital toys. According to data from the NPD Group, the global toy market is enjoying strong growth with an 11% sales increase in the first eight months of the year.
Source: CNBC, June 2020
In particular, sales of Barbie dolls increased by 29% in the third quarter, according to Mattel, marking the largest quarterly increase posted by Barbie going back at least two decades. Similarly, Lego announced in September that its overall sales rose 7% to $2.5 billion year-over-year while operating profit grew 11%. Don’t call it a comeback — toys have always been here; it’s just enjoying a pandemic boost like many other home products.
With no end to the pandemic in sight, toy sales could continue on a growth path. Toys have always been a hot gift category during the holidays, and it is no exception during this shopping season that kicked off early. It’s reasonable to assume that children will receive more tangible gifts (aka. toys) this holiday season since trips to cinemas and amusement parks, and other travel plans might be called off.
According to the 2020 Holiday Shopping report by Deloitte, 74% of holiday shoppers will be spending on toys and hobbies (which includes books, board games, dolls, movies, etc.); about 13% of total holiday spend at retail will be spent on toys and hobbies. The “festive shopper” segment (people that plan to keep up with conventional shopping routines) plans to spend 34% more than average on toys and hobbies this year, according to the report.
With many parents looking to entertain and preoccupy their children through ways other than screens, toys offer a unique way to create new experiences and encourage the use of imagination and curiosity. Plus, with the accelerated adoption of online learning, many are also starting to rethink education and how learning can be applied outside of a traditional classroom (i.e. in the living room), leading to a renewed interest in educational toys that toymakers and marketers should heed.
Educational Toys as a Growth Driver
Play and toys have always acted as a catalyst to get children excited to learn, engage, and participate. Educational toys are important as they can help increase IQ and motor control, develop social and emotional intelligence, better concentration, and enhance creativity and other soft skills. Even before COVID, parents showed increasing interest in educational toys. This year, they are emerging as a life-saver to parents who feel overwhelmed and unqualified to properly ensure the quality of at-home education and balance school time with play time.
Source: Euromonitor, 2020
When we wrote about how digital forces are transforming the way kids and teens play last year, we highlighted the steady growth of STEM toys, along with other educational toys. Whether it’s teaching kids engineering skills and coding through gamified experiences delivered through tangible toys, or designing interactive content, using video games as vehicles for knowledge and social skills, there are plenty of ways that toymakers are responding to the growing need for toys that add more value to playtime.
In contrast, non-digital educational toys have received comparatively less attention, partly because the skills that society values for employment, aka the kind of skills parents would want their children to learn, have largely shifted to a digital set. As productivity and creativity tools grow increasingly digital, it should come as no surprise that the educational toys that are emerging today also follow suit, focusing on helping kids and teens develop future-proof skills such as coding, digital creativity, and digital literacy. With the arrival of a “no-code generation” that is proficient in exercising their creativity and socializing in virtual environments like Roblox and Fortnite, this trend is only going to accelerate and emerge as a growth driver for toymakers. Already, Lego has partnered with video game engine Unity for a Lego Microgame, where you can snap together virtual bricks to build the environment of your own custom game world.
Beyond digital skills, there is still plenty of white space in educational toys for traditional toy players to innovate beyond STEM. Educational toys for teaching kids about personal finance management, civic engagement, climate change, and many other practical skills and pressing topics are still to be explored. There is also an ongoing effort of integrating educational toys into classrooms to enrich the learning experience and ensure that more kids have equal access to those tools as well. Dash Robot, for example, is being used in some classrooms not only because it teaches basic coding skills, but also that it reinforces the STEM concepts that students learn in classes.
In a way, AR apps are the perfect game for children to play both in and outside of the classroom. Teachers and students are already using any number of AR mobile apps designed for remote learning like JigSpace, Jig Workshop, Assemblr EDU, and Math Ninja AR, all of which are available for download and use on any compatible smartphone. For toymakers, it’s time to consider how to incorporate AR into your product design to expand their educational functionality, as well as how to incorporate your product into an AR-powered environment.
From “Toy Makers” To “Edu-tainment Providers”
In recent years, there has been a strategic shift in how toy brands approach owned media and branded content. Mirroring the shift from products to a more service-oriented model that has transformed many industries, many toymakers invested heavily in content production centered around their flagship products, used the content as lead generators, and created interactive play experiences to add value to their physical products. For example, Hasbro transformed its trading card game Magic: The Gathering into an esports game by hosting tournaments and streaming the matches on Twitch.
Today, branded content from toy brands tends to focus on entertainment value, but tomorrow, they could be expanded to cover more educational topics by partnering with educational content creators. Toy makers already supply kids with entertainment content, so it wouldn’t be too big a leap to produce the kind of “edu-tainment content” (a la Dora the Explorer or Sesame Street) that are tied to their products. The challenge here, of course, is producing content good enough to compete for attention from a generation that is growing up with infinite amounts of content on social media and creative platforms like Roblox and TikTok. Established toy brands should be able to leverage their brand equity to gain parents’ trust and win out against more chaotic UGC-fueled platforms.
The need for toy brands to create branded content as part of the play ecosystem is even more pronounced this year, given the lack of tentpole holiday movies to drive toy sales. Instead of relying on theater releases, toymakers and marketers should consider exploring potential partnerships with streaming services, who are also investing heavily in children’s content. One of Netflix’s most-watched shows in August was a three-episode children’s program called Cocomelon, which originated as a YouTube series. And Lego’s Baby Yoda set is ready just in time for the second season of The Mandalorian to debut on Disney+.
In addition, toy brands should also make an effort to educate the parents about the benefits of educational toys. Although kids have a strong influence on what kind of toys they get, it is ultimately up to the parents to make the purchase. Therefore, it is important to clearly communicate to parents via packaging and brand messaging what kids can learn by playing with your products as well as why it is important that their kids should learn those skills or knowledge. The younger parents today also tend to have more digital-oriented media and shopping habits that should be taken into consideration when toy brands plan media campaigns.
