Ever wonder what exactly makes a toy sustainable or how it can enhance your child's cognitive development? We promise you a treasure of knowledge in our fascinating conversation with Lindsay Simpson, the founder of the Hendersonville Toy Company, who takes us on an enlightening journey into the world of sustainable and educational playthings. We are at the Holiday Pop-Up Market for 2023 at the Asheville Mall, among 50 local women-owned businesses, talking about toys that are more than just playthings.
Lindsay throws light on the key features of her unique toy business focusing on sustainably made toys, stem-related items, Montessori-based play, and items that inspire intergenerational play, a concept that has gained serious traction in this digital age. She explains how play is not just for kids, and how engaging in play can boost cognitive abilities, improve mental health, and foster bonds across generations. We delve into the materials and design of sustainable toys, understanding wooden toys, recycled plastic items, and toys made from bioplastics. Lindsay also expands on stem toys, which integrate science, technology, engineering, and math, helping kids to learn about sequencing, engineering, and more. Furthermore, we talk about the importance of introducing art into play, creating a more holistic STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) approach. This conversation is a goldmine of information for parents, educators, and toy enthusiasts who seek to understand better, the value and impact of toys in our lives.
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JPH:
Hello, this is Joanna Patrice Haggerty and I am on location at the Holiday Pop-Up Market for 2023 at the Asheville Mall, sponsored by WWBC and Biz Radio. We have 50 local women-owned entrepreneurs here selling their goods and getting their name out there for folks. Joining me now is Lindsay Simpson, founder of the Hendersonville Toy Company. Thanks for being here, lindsay. Thank you so much for having me, absolutely. First off, you have an amazing sweater and an amazing booth. Thank you, thank you, and we have to talk about, tell us about your business. Obviously, it's toys, right?
Lindsay :
Yes, yes, it is Even more than toys, too. So Hendersonville Toy Company is located in Hendersonville. We specialize in sustainably made toys. We also have stem-related items, montessori-based play and just things that are unique, so things that you're not going to find everywhere, and then a lot of toys, books and games that are going to inspire intergenerational play, because it's really important that you know, if you have kids, or you have kids in your life, you know that they like to play with the same thing over and over and over again, and we want to make sure that the adults in their life want to play the same thing over and over and over again.
JPH:
Yes, because play is not delineated to one age. Let's be correct, right 100%.
Lindsay :
Play is so important, no matter what your age is or how old you get, even up into seniors Like. In fact, I'm going to talk to some seniors next week about the importance of play. It really helps with cognitive abilities, dexterity, bonding with different Mental health.
JPH:
Mental health, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm so curious. You mentioned sustainable and stem toys. What makes a toy sustainable and what exactly is a stem toy?
Lindsay :
Yeah, so it's from the sustainable angle. We have a lot of wooden toys in store. If it's not wooden, then it's usually like a recycled plastic. We have a great brand, lowercase toys, that's felt, toys that are made from recycled water bottles. That's also a woman-owned business. Love that. Yeah, so they check almost all of our boxes, so those are really great. Or there's also some that are made from bioplastics. We have green toys which is a pretty popular brand.
Lindsay :
They're made from recycled milk jugs, so it's a lot of recycled materials wooden toys, things like that.
JPH:
That's so special. And then, yeah, what exactly is stem, and what exactly do stem toys mean too?
Lindsay :
Yeah, so stem stands for science, technology, engineering and math, so it's a lot of building. We have some things that help kids to learn about sequencing, which can help them if they want to eventually get into computer programming, coding, things like that A lot of engineering-based toys, so that also goes into the building, but trying to figure out how things can work together. We have these really great wooden models that are from Ukraine, wow, and so they're all mechanical models no glue, anything like that and you can build marble runs. We have a wind-up car. You can build all sorts of really cool sets.
JPH:
That is so fun, and I'm a big fan of working in the art sector too. I love steam as well, when you throw in the art piece as well, so valuable and important, isn't it?
Lindsay :
100%, and we have a lot of great arts and crafts too. Love that by my day job, I'm also in the art field. I love that and so it's really important for me to have the crafts and arts that kids can play with.
JPH:
That's really really important. Okay, so you talked about intergenerational play. Why is that important?
Lindsay :
So I think we've come to realize this more, especially with COVID and how prevalent computers and phones and everything are, and so it's really easy to you know, throw a tablet in front of your kid.
Lindsay :
Where I know I've done this I'll be watching TV and on my phone, which is crazy when you really think about it and so it's important to be able to have those activities that are going to be fun for kids, but they're also fun for adults, because then that way you have them spending time together. So that could be a puzzle, it could be an activity book, it could be the building sets that I talked about. Maybe you're doing those together, because a lot of the more intricate ones you know you need an adult to help you and at the end of the day, the adult's going to have just as much fun as the kid. We also have a lot of really cool games that are fun. We have one called Cow Pie Catapults, which kids are obviously going to think it's fun because it talks about, you know, cow pies. But when we first found it, my husband was like we should get this. I'm like I don't know, I don't know if we need that.
Lindsay :
He was just playing and it is so ridiculously fun to just launch these silicone cow pies at your opponent's cows and try to knock them over. It's ridiculously fun.
JPH:
And we all need that moment to sort of disrupt the hard parts of life, especially as we're walking into the holiday season right? 100%, yeah, I guess. Are there any last minute, maybe advice for people who are trying to make sure that they're gifting correct or want to be conscious of financial spending or all the things? What are your advices for that?
Lindsay :
Oh gosh. Well, there's so much to it, right? There's so many different levels of toys and types of toys, and you know that's one of the great things about shopping local is that when you come in a Hendersonville toy company, you can come up to the counter and you can say, ok, I need a holiday gift for a six month old, a seven year old and a nine year old, and we'll ask you a few questions about what they're into. But then we can help point you in the right direction. And the other thing that was really important to us as a family owned business was that we have a variety of price ranges. So typically sustainably made toys are a little bit on the higher end just because they cost more to make Absolutely and the materials are a little bit more expensive. But we wanted to make sure that we have stuff If a kid comes in with $5 of an allowance they have choices.
Lindsay :
I love that. So we have things that go from $2 and up.
JPH:
I love that. Well, I heard you say that there was a list. People can go find out and then people can also visit your store, so tell us about this list and how people can come find you.
Lindsay :
Yes, so we also developed our own top 10 gift list, which is online. So it's on our website, hvltoyscompanycom. We also have copies of it in store and on our social media. So the best ways to find us would be on social media Facebook and Instagram at hvltoyscompany or, like I said, online hvltoyscompanycom. We do have online shopping. You can pick it up in store or we can ship it for you. I love that.
JPH:
Yep. Well, lindsay, thank you for being here and thank you for bringing play and sustainable play to the holiday season in western North Carolina this year. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for having me, absolutely, and thank you, guys for tuning in. Please be sure to check out bizradious for more great conversations around small and mid-sized businesses, leaders and innovators.