From the Minds of Babes

“[Kids] are smarter than we are about what they want.” — Mary Aloe, BKFK

In the 1880s, a teenager founded his own toy company based on a game he invented. Over 100 invented games later, George Parker and his company, Parker Brothers, were an institution, and Monopoly, introduced in 1935, is arguably the number one board game of all time.

TDmonthly Magazine spoke with inventors and inventors’ helpers (everyone from parents to companies that specialize in aiding young entrepreneurs) to find out what makes a kid create a toy and how it's brought to market.

“I was the ultimate Las Vegas latchkey kid: my mother was a blackjack dealer and my father was a maitre d’,” explained Anthony Zuiker, toy inventor and creator of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation television franchise. By 14, he'd created his first dice game. "The end of this year, the beginning of next, I’m going to come out with a dice and card game based on World Football. It only took me 25 years.” Zuiker most recently worked with Specialty Board Games to create the game CSI: Senses. (View article)

Wild Planet found a new inventor among a group of homeless children.

“Shahid Minapara was living in a homeless shelter when representatives from our company brought a playgroup by for the children," related media rep Kim Bratcher. "Our president threw a question out about inventions and if anyone had one. Shahid grabbed a piece of paper and drew lights on his fingertips so he could read under the covers at night. With the help of our designers and production people, it became the Light Hand, one of our best sellers.”

BKFK (by kids, for kids) is a whole company founded on the principle that kids’ innate creativity and ingenuity can be profitable. They help kids from idea to shelf. Mary Aloe, director of public relations related how “we want to aid a child’s natural creativity, not stifle it. They’re smarter than we are about what they want.”

One of BKFK’s success stories is that of Jerrilee Geist, age 9. She wanted to create a special birthday gift for her older sister, who loved word games. With the help of her mother Becky, an educator for 20-plus years, Jerrilee brainstormed ideas and developed Speed Spell (ToyDirectory), a fast-paced game of spelling and vocabulary. It has done so well that Jerrilee is setting up Speed Spell Tournaments in schools across the country and making herself available to do Meet the Creator assemblies in Bay Area schools.

Jacob Dunnack’s mother, Elizabeth, told how he was born with a rare congenital heart disease. Related surgeries led to a stroke that lost him the use of his right hand. But he still pursued his favorite sport: baseball. When he had trouble carrying both the bat and the ball home from his grandmother’s house, he came up with the idea of storing the ball inside the bat so he could carry it all with one hand. Thus was born the JD Batball.

There are hundreds of these success stories. A child sees a problem, comes up with a solution and then develops it, all the while having fun. They have help from parents, grandparents, or entrepreneurs along the way, since it takes time, money and manufacturing skills to make a really great toy.

But creation is play, and the end product is fun to play with. And that’s the key to their ideas and to their successes.