Child development and business development: how to combine

Relevance of the business idea

Standard toys have long been of no interest to anyone. And any parent will say that children like to play what adults do: opening and closing locks, switching switches, raising and lowering pot lids, putting a fork into a socket, pressing all sorts of buttons... But how can you keep your child safe in such games? The answer is simple - keep your child busy with a busy board.

How to open your own business using children's games

To realize the production and sale of educational boards as a business idea, a detailed plan should be developed, and it should be based on step-by-step implementation instructions:

1. Opening an individual entrepreneur. The first step is to register an individual enterprise with the tax office and choose the most convenient taxation system. The simplified tax system is better suited. When planning to recruit employees, register to pay insurance premiums for employees.
2. Renting premises. To manufacture the planned products, you will not need a large area; your own house with a spacious workshop is quite suitable. To create a children's busy board, a room of 20 square meters is enough.
3. Purchase of materials for production. Kids like to try everything in action, and a children's busy board should contain all kinds of hooks, latches, locks, Velcro, buttons, furniture wheels, watches, double hinges, and small toys. It is also interesting for children to understand the operation of key rings, chains, latches, sockets, telephone dials and learn how to play with various straws.

For the base of children's busy boards, you need to purchase solid pine - it is a natural, environmentally friendly material, and the attached parts stick well to it. The boards used for the stand are not varnished, but carefully sanded so that the child is not damaged.

Costs and profits

A business board production project at the initial stage requires an investment of 70,000 rubles. In the future, significant costs include advertising costs, transport or courier service costs, as well as the purchase of components and materials that are included in the cost price. Overall, monthly expenses are low. The payback period for a net profit of 20,000 rubles will be 3.5 months.

Start-up costs: approximate calculation for Astrakhan

Monthly costs

What is needed to produce business boards?

To start production, a minimum investment of several thousand rubles is sufficient. That is, you can start your own business without investment. Money is needed only to buy materials for work. You can come up with ideas for the game yourself or get them online. If you come up with your own projects and create unique games, then your products will be in demand and popular. Author's projects are valued much higher than borrowed ideas. The size of the game can be at your discretion.

Equipment

The production technology for business boards is simple and involves manual work. You will need tools for sanding and processing wood, equipment for cutting plywood sheets, a drill and self-tapping screws.

It is possible that you already have all or at least some of the necessary tools. This will significantly save costs at the start of the project. Otherwise, budget about 50,000 rubles for this expense item.

Busy board manufacturing technology

The manufacturing technology of a busy board is presented in the following steps:

• Selecting the material for the base of the board and determining its configuration and shape;
• Selecting the elements that will be located on it, drawing up an approximate diagram;
• Processing all parts of the bodyboard base and existing parts so that the child cannot get hurt while playing;
• Painting (if necessary) the base for the bodyboard, it is possible to apply any drawings or stickers in the form of cartoon characters, etc.;
• Attaching (gluing) all existing parts and checking their strength - how well they hold;
• Final check of the working condition of all moving parts - the latches should open and close, the lights should turn on and off, etc.;
• Final check for any dangerous parts or edges.

How to choose a supplier

For the base you will need sheets of plywood, screws, paint and a special varnish to cover the finished board. As components, purchase latches, bicycle bells, door locks, zippers, telephone dials, switches, keys, bells, reels, laces, Velcro, hinges, latches, chains, multi-colored beads, shaped magnets and other items.

Sets for business boards vary depending on the complexity of production and the final price of the finished product. Also, components may vary depending on the baby’s gender or age. This is how they make busy boards for girls in a format for playing with a doll, and for boys - with a large abundance of technical details. For older children, they often order not individual boards, but structures in the shape of houses.

The production of business boards is remarkable in that everything you need can be purchased at any construction or home improvement store. It makes no sense to purchase items in bulk, since wholesale quantities require the organization of conveyor production.

Description of goods and services

The project's products are so-called busy boards (“Montessori boards”). Busy boards are an entertaining and educational toy for children from 1 to 5 years old. Usually they represent a base (a wide wooden board) on which various objects are fixed with which the child can interact. The project uses three types of bodyboards, differing in functionality and size.

The origin of busy boards is based on the pedagogical theory of Maria Montessori, an Italian teacher of the early 20th century. This theory assumes the independence of the child, freedom within certain limits, and the natural psychological, physical and social development of the child. One of the foundations of the theory is the child’s independent choice of activity from the options available in his environment. For this, various specialized materials are used, developed both by Maria Montessori herself and her followers. Along with other materials, busy boards are also used, with the help of which a child can develop motor skills, color perception, logic and even creative skills.

Table 2. Product line

Table 3. Production costs and selling price

Only natural materials are used in production. The base, unlike a significant number of competitive products, is not varnished for a decorative effect. Any varnish is a chemical substance that cannot adversely affect the safety of the product. The base is carefully sanded - using a machine and then by hand, which ensures maximum smoothness of the surface. Considering the operating conditions indoors, concern for moisture protection seems extremely far-fetched.

All elements are fastened using self-tapping screws and other reliable fasteners, which guarantees high reliability and safety for the child. The safest option is to play with bodyboards located in a horizontal position (“Mini” and “Optimum”). The Optimum business board also assumes vertical placement, provided it is attached to a stationary vertical surface (for example, to a wall). The "Maxi" bodyboard assumes only a vertical playing position, due to its design, consisting of two bases, which are hinged at the top and have a swing limiter at the bottom.

As an additional service, the project offers an individual set of bodyboards at the request of the client. At the same time, if the production cost (price of components) does not deviate by more than 15% in any direction from the standard price, the price remains fixed. Products are not necessarily subject to certification. Since we are ready to offer customized products, certification is essentially not possible.

How to advertise a business

First, create accounts for your project on social networks: Instagram, Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Facebook. Some networks will bring a lot of clients, and some less, but maximum coverage is more important. After the deadline, you can choose the most effective social networks and abandon the rest.

Place your bet on high-quality photographs and videos of kids with bodyboards. It would be a good idea to set up targeted advertising and go with one-time advertising posts to thematic and popular public pages in your city, as well as contact popular bloggers for advertising.

The business board production project is interesting because your target audience is not only in the same region as you, but in general everywhere where you can send the finished product.

How to sell a developmental business board?!

There are several ways to sell business boards, which I will list below.

• Toy store: Sell educational boards on the basis of a full-fledged toy store;
• Educational games store: You can open a highly specialized store selling educational games for children;
• Business boards with delivery throughout the city: Alternatively, open an online store selling development boards in your city or advertise on an advertisement site;
• Busy boards with delivery throughout Russia : You can also sell a set of puzzles with fasteners, which, after receiving, the client will independently attach to any wooden surface. This eliminates heavy wooden sheets from delivery and allows the goods to be sent by mail.

Selling a developmental bodyboard is not difficult, you can make it yourself from scrap materials, production can be set up at home or in the garage, the cost is very low! What are you waiting for? Run to earn your first million rubles!

Thank you for reading the blog mlnrub.ru and see you for new ideas! Don't forget about our VKontakte group.

Pros and cons of a business idea

✅ Advantages of the business board production project:

• Relative novelty of the idea
• There is always a potential audience
• Demand is not limited to just your region

❌ Disadvantages of the business board production project:

• Lack of ability to delegate responsibilities
• Costs of quality production
• Competition

The production of busy boards for children can grow from a part-time job into a full-fledged business. The main thing is not to lose faith in your own strengths and not to give up in case of failures that may precede the launch of the project. And may you be lucky!

Material base

Opening a separate workshop is a prospect. At the start, you can get by with an apartment. In our case, the production process is based on manual labor. That is, you will have to stock up on tools for wood processing, including a sander, electric jigsaws (for plywood), a drill, and self-tapping screws. The cost of a full set of tools and consumables is 50 thousand rubles. Shaped metal parts can be ordered at https://lasernet.com.ua.

Busy boards are made from plywood sheets, bars, and boards. The blanks of future toys are connected with self-tapping screws. The resulting “boxes” are painted and varnished. Further, the structures are equipped with latches, reels, latches and other decorative elements.

The range includes products for boys and girls. In the first case, technical parts are used as “attachments” to the frame, in the second – parts for playing with dolls.

For the youngest users, busy boards are made in the form of boards, for older children - in the form of houses.

Do you need a workforce?

For single orders, there is no need for employees. The project initiator will handle the production of unique toys and their advertising.

External employees can be acquaintances who attract customers. They are paid a percentage of each order as a salary.

Busy board options for boys

A do-it-yourself busy board for a boy involves a design and details that correspond to men’s activities. Construction and transport themes are perfect. Against the background of the construction site, it is logical to place a concrete mixer, with a steel bracket and nuts screwed onto it.

Video review of the busy board Space Remote, for a boy:

Install a valve, a plug with a socket, and a switch on the house. Place a picture of its new resident, some animal, next to the house. Tower crane lifts fixed colored wheels. Provide the drawn excavator with a plug inserted into the socket. Put wheels of different sizes on the tractor.

Another DIY option for a boy’s bodyboard could be stylized as a watch workshop. It is appropriate to paste on the board more images of different types of clocks, place gears, labyrinths, rolls. Switches, sockets with plugs, and light bulbs that turn on will be a good addition.

The central place should be given to a watch with strong, rotating hands. Brackets with nuts and images of pets will also not be superfluous.

Safety regulations

The main requirement is complete safety. Children are very inventive; a one-year-old baby may be interested in a shiny thing, and he will make every effort to try it on his teeth. Therefore, carefully check whether the elements of the board are firmly fixed, especially those on which it rests. It is better to avoid unreliable parts altogether. Observe the following precautions:

• Removable elements must be attached with a cord or a strong chain. Choose a short lace to prevent your baby from getting tangled.
• Important condition: if the set contains luminous parts, they should not be powered. The safest light bulbs are LEDs.
• It is better to sew the parts of a soft product together and glue them for reliability.
• Hide the batteries for sound and light components in compartments located at the back of the board, closed with small screws.
• No matter how safe a toy may seem, do not leave a child of any age to play unattended.

What elements should be on a business board?

There is no strict rule about what exactly should be on an entertaining board. You are limited only by your imagination. If you don’t even have any idea what needs to be attached to the board, then here are a few useful elements that you will definitely need for an exciting game:

• several types of locks
  (latch, hook and latch),
• several textile elements with different fasteners
  (pockets with Velcro, button, zipper and button),
• light source
  (diode strip or battery-powered flashlight),
• sound source
  (bells, xylophones, doorbell),
• switches
  (preferably functioning),
• a socket with a plug
  (ideally, if it is thanks to it that one of the light sources will turn on),
• large beads or rings on a wire
  (needed for learning to count),
• telephone handsets
  ,
• dials
  ,
• wheels and hinges
  .

In addition to the above elements, you can attach elements that are suitable for a particular child to the board. For example, for boys, you can glue a steering wheel or a bicycle bell to the board, and for girls, a mirror or hairpins on a string would be a suitable element. It is also useful to place letters or numbers: from the letters it is enough to simply collect the name of the child for whom the board is intended, and the numbers will help when learning to count.

What are the benefits for a child and at what age do you need a busy board?

This question can be answered even without being an expert in pedagogy. But the article was written by a person with a pedagogical education, so the benefits will be discussed in detail.

Consider a busy board. At first glance, some details seem unnecessary and even dangerous - no need to worry! All elements help the child learn about the world around him

Children are moving by leaps and bounds in their development. As Leo Tolstoy said: “From birth to five years old there are a lot of steps. From a five-year-old to me there’s only one.” This is true. As Masaru Ibuka said, after three it’s too late. Therefore, our task is to begin the child’s development from the cradle.

Development of fine motor skills, visual perception, hearing - already from the age of one month, the child begins to carefully analyze everything that he sees, hears, and touches. This doesn’t mean that he needs to shove the alphabet under his nose, but as soon as the baby learns to sit up fully, you can slowly share interesting things with him.

For a one-year-old curious baby, such a board will be a great gift.

There are no age restrictions for using a busy board, since all the fragments are securely fastened and cannot get into the child’s mouth.

How to make a soft bodyboard with your own hands from fabric and felt - nuances

For very young children who are just beginning to explore the world, you can make a fabric board, the so-called soft version. Sew the first toy by analogy with a developmental rug. It can be similar to a book or made in the form of a carrier or pillow. To make such an educational toy you will need patterns. These can be your own ideas, or borrowed from the Internet. For comparison, here is a pattern and its implementation in a soft book.

Such applications are most often created from felt and calico. Wool, pieces of leather, buttons and hooks are often used. Such decorative elements must be attached to the reverse side of the product on an additional button.

Applications can be collected like in a book, they got their name as “Quietbook” or “Quiet Book”, and can also be made on one side of the busy board