How Experiential Learning Shapes Young Minds: Insights from Reisa Schwartzman

EP011_04-16-24_Reisa Schwartzman

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Toy Business Unboxed, your gateway to the secrets of the toy industry. Here, Jason Hsieh, a toy entrepreneur and expert. “Every product we develop is really inspired by some of the real life experience that we have with our son.” “Major retailers.” “Yeah, yeah.” “We think this is cool.” “The thing with Amazon is just, It become more and more complicated over the years.” “Yeah, maybe you can also consider to create more online resources.” Will guide you through the enchanting world of toy design, marketing, and manufacturing. Now let the unboxing begin!

Jason Hsieh: Welcome to Toy Business Unboxed. Today we are thrilled to have Reisa, a dynamic leader in the toy space joining us and sharing her story in her role in first dancing to her current leadership role in both real estate and also toy manufacturing. Reisa’s journey is a truly inspiring one and also multifaceted.

So I want to dive into today’s interview and share some of her story and [00:01:00] uncover some of the secret to her success. Thank you for joining us today, Reisa. 

Reisa Schwartzman: Thanks for having us, Jason. Looking forward to our talk. 

Jason Hsieh: Yeah. Can you first share with the listener and the viewers about the inspiration behind your brand, Griddly kids, and your vision for your toy brand? 

Reisa Schwartzman: I didn’t get into this business in a traditional way, but once I was in the business and started developing my products, it went from what was inside of me, what inspired me to what was something that I wanted to deliver to my kids. And with my science background and exercise physiology and in real estate, it seemed like I was developing STEM toys.

And then I learned what STEM was. I actually didn’t know that much about the toy industry when I first got in, which I advise you to do it the other way around. But, once I realized what I was comfortable with, what I got excited about and what I was passionate about. I started sticking to that and we originally started off in the games and then we went into the stem kits, [00:02:00] which also because of my dance background and choreography and design and the real estate was very much in the arts with the scientists. So that was a really real blend of who I was. 

We wanted to deliver products that spoke to us and excited the people we were with. And then I became a grandparent and was looking for things to do with my grandchildren, so then we got passionate about how can we put stem into the bathtub or into a water play. And so we have a new line come coming up with that. So it’s always how it reflects in my life. 

Jason Hsieh: I see. Thank you for sharing that journey. Can you also elaborate how does Griddly kids differentiate itself in a very competitive toy market, especially for the stem and the stem toy?

Reisa Schwartzman: A lot of the industry is very crowded, so you’re right. When I was in the board game section, I have some games like Wise Alec and Oversight and Rocket Lander that are [00:03:00] really great games. But it’s hard to get them on the shelf sometimes. It’s crowded and I found when I went into the stem kits, I started off with, for an example, I came up with just add milk and this was the first one where it was came in six and it was in a caddy. And it looked like it looked like a little bit of milk. So we went with packaging that was really cute and inviting. Then we thought if we did well with that, we would expand our brand. We’re from the Northwest and we really believe in reuse, recycle, repurpose.

We wanted our product to say that. So instead of putting something in a huge package, we would put something in a small package, but we wanted it all to relate to it. For an example we did baking soda, so it looks like a baking soda, but when you open it, there’s no oxygen in our packages. There’s all product. Instead of it being a big box with nothing in it, we really tried to use our product. One [00:04:00] of ours is just add sugar. We give you a decoupage recipe, decoupage the box, now you have a jewelry box. It has a string so you can reuse the box. You’re not throwing it away. We want it there to be, it’s always, we really believe in experiential learning, which is of course, DYI kits.

I’m a little slow today because I have one really sore arm. So like in Just Add Sun, the box itself is a solar oven. You cook right here. 

Jason Hsieh: Oh, that’s pretty cool. 

Reisa Schwartzman: Yeah. What differentiates us is sometimes our packaging is a little bit unusual. I think it creates a feeling of what we’re doing and there’s some great products out there and they’re bigger companies, so being a small company is not always easy, but I really believe in what we do, so we continue to do what we do. 

Jason Hsieh: I like how you mentioned about the packaging for the toys because that’s something I actually struggle with my own brand because we are 100 percent online. We’re actually not in a lot of retail store yet. Inside our packaging, we didn’t really like design [00:05:00] with a retail in mind because majority of the scene people see is just images and video anyway.

Reisa Schwartzman: Yeah. 

Jason Hsieh: Packaging for us for our own brand is like the afterthought then we’ll come up with some kind of packaging as long as we can put the product inside. When we are trying to get into retail right now, that’s actually the number one pushback I’m getting when I’m talking to sales rep or even store, which is our packaging is not really attractive in the retail storefront.

So that’s actually one of my struggle with my brand right now. 

Reisa Schwartzman: Packaging is always a challenge. It doesn’t matter if you’re big or small. It has to be able to capture your audience within three seconds. 

Jason Hsieh: Yeah. 

Reisa Schwartzman: And it has to tell you what it is. So sometimes we get pushback that people are a little confused about what we do but we believe if they can pick it up and hold it, they understand what we do. There’s no question, packaging is challenging. 

Jason Hsieh: Thank you for bringing that up. My next question is what role do you believe? You mentioned about experimental learning, how does that play into the overall child’s [00:06:00] development and how does Griddly kids incorporate that into the product design currently?

Reisa Schwartzman: When I was in grade five, I had this great science teacher. And when we were doing electricity, he made us build a water dam to show us how energy was created and how we actually managed to turn on a light bulb with what we, built. I still remember that today. And that was a long time ago now and being a dance teacher I always knew that when you teach something, if you can experience it, not just read it, it’s stronger. With my own personal learning style, I always do better when I’ve done it, whether than just hear it. So I like to read, see, and do, that’s how I learn. And so I really believe in experiential learning.

And I believe that all of our products are experiential. Whether it’s our board games, our kids and our water toy. We really have the [00:07:00] experience of, of what that means. So like our new water toy, it BobBee is actually three boats in one. Sorry, as I said, my arms are hurting so great. So we have Bob and B and together we make BobBee.

So again, I tried to put a lot of product into one product. Bob has a flat bottom and Bee has a round bottom. Now we’re learning the difference of a buoyancy and displacement, but we also have the difference in a volume study. You can hide things in it. You can put things on top. We’ve made it out of silicone. So it’s food grade quality. So we’re mold resistant. We did SEL, Social Emotional Learning with the different kinds of boats. They learn different kinds of people can work together. We try to put a lot of product in one product. I think that’s one thing that we do. I think we try to make our products experiential and we try to offer a lot in a little bit, we try [00:08:00] to bring real value and joy to our products. 

Jason Hsieh: Yeah and the next question I have, you already answered is the, like how do you ensure the quality and education value of the toy, especially as part of your product design ever evolving landscape of education and technology. You already mentioned a few scenes that you’re currently doing with your own brand, like try to incorporate as many different elements as possible in the current design. But is there any other tips or any other things that you would like to share? 

Reisa Schwartzman: I think one thing I’ve learned over the years is everything can be educational and everything can be turned into a drinking game.

Jason Hsieh: Okay.

Reisa Schwartzman: It depends on who’s using the product. I think that, I think it’s pretty self explanatory if you’re doing a product that has learning science experiments in it. I think a game can always be a learning experience if There’s rules that kids have to learn how to follow and [00:09:00] there’s certain skills that come out of every experience, whether if it’s a cooperative game, you have to learn communication and if you’re learning chess, you’re learning logic. And if you’re doing oversight, you’re doing strategy. And if you’re like our wise alec is a trivia game and it’s based on curriculum from elementary school, so it’s reinforcement. But yet there’s rules of learning how to take turns. So again, it’s socialization. I think everything can be learning. The question is, You don’t want to make learning only learning you want to make it fun and kids when they touch and feel and they don’t even realize they’re learning then their absorption is a multiple that gets just so much greater than if they were just reading it out of a book.

Jason Hsieh: That’s definitely a really good point. Can you also walk us through your process because you have so many different product line and different product, what is your process on coming up with the idea and actually bring in the product to market? Because [00:10:00] that is the most difficult part.

Reisa Schwartzman: You know what? I’ve been asked that a lot of times, and I hate to admit it. I’m not as disciplined as maybe some other developers for me it’s more of epiphany. I’ll get it. I have some experience and I go, Oh my God, what about if I did it this way? Or if I flipped this concept? But as I’ve matured in my experience in the toy world, I think you have to make sure that your product has room on the shelf. If your product has 30 other products exactly the same and it’s just a little bit better. Why would a retailer or even a buyer who might know I’m just going to use the name like Monopoly or Risk or Life, those are board games that people know.

So how does your game or product take over that shelf space? Why should a buyer? [00:11:00] Look farther for your product. Can you tell the story about why yours is better than what’s already on the shelf or even something they already have on their own shelf? Like, why do they need to have I believe BobBee, I think offers a product for the water toys that’s not out there in the market. So I felt confident bringing, there’s obviously other boats in the market, but my boat does something different in the market and I think that’s what you want to make sure 

Jason Hsieh: Yeah, that’s a good point and that applied not just for retail store, but it also applied for online too. On amazon, you want to make sure the product is different enough so in the search result people know what make this product difference and if you’re charging higher than everyone else, 

Reisa Schwartzman: You better tell them why yeah. 

Jason Hsieh: Tell them why are you charging a higher price than everyone else? Yeah, what is the premium quality behind the product? So that’s a good point. 

And the next question I have is, how does Griddly Kids approach marketing? And how do you guys [00:12:00] connect with the target audience particularly in today’s digital age? 

Reisa Schwartzman: That’s the endless question and it’s always evolving. Of course, we do these podcasts with you, Jason and use your services to make sure that like on Amazon, we’ve got ourselves fully exposed to the best that we can. We use online, we use Facebook, Instagram, and we’re starting to use TikTok. But you have to be really organized to use your TikTok. You have to make sure you have all your content. And then we use trade shows and mailing lists.

And then we’ll do promotion, we do some charity events and we try to get ourselves in. We use awards like where all of our products have got tons of awards and in the hope and getting the awards, not that we knew that our products were really good quality, but those awards get some coverage, so we use the awards to help us with our exposure as well. 

Jason Hsieh: Oh, okay. I see. I think with your product, if someone on your team has [00:13:00] the bandwidth, you can do a lot of like live demonstration just on different kit. Because every single kit, you can do hours of content. You can create like one hour just for one kit and all the different experiments and show them exactly how to use it. And I think that’s a lot of potential for like social media content because the uniqueness of your product because one product have 10, 5 to 10 or even more usage 

Reisa Schwartzman: some of them have up to 30. So yes 

Jason Hsieh: Even more and you can create like a mini video for each and you can post it on social media And really creating a lot of like different. 

Reisa Schwartzman: You still want people to buy your product. So That’s the hard part 

Jason Hsieh: It’s all about creating awareness because once people see like the older user cases, now they’ll be more interested and you can also showcase a lot of different ways that people couldn’t see it on the retail shelf or even online. You can try to put all that information into a product detail page, but you have that your product is so unique and have so many usages. That I feel like that’s like a low hanging [00:14:00] food really for your 

Reisa Schwartzman: brand 

that’s what we’re working on 

Jason Hsieh: creating a lot more content around the product and how it could potentially be used.

The next question I have is what are some of the biggest challenge that you have been Facing when you come in the toy industry and how have you overcome them?

Reisa Schwartzman: It’s not an easy business. Toys are not an easy business. There’s a lot of competition out there and I guess it’s just making sure you get in front of your buyers. And so how do you do that? You have to do the trade shows. I really do believe, I don’t think you can’t just put yourself on Amazon and hope that you’re going to get there. It’s really nice when someone comes up to go, Oh, I’ve heard about you. It’s just getting to market when you’re not a big company. 

How do you do it? A lot of people in my shoes might have gone to licensing where they go to the bigger company and let them buy them out. That is something that I can always suggest that is an option because the big guys just get the bigger exposure. But I just think you stick to your guns and just be passionate [00:15:00] and believe in what you do and then overcome the challenges of that face you every day.

Jason Hsieh: I can relate to that as well. This year I’m trying to crack the retail side of the businesses because we’re not really in any retail channel yet. I mean besides online, we are like 100 percent online currently. So that’s definitely a whole different kind of challenges. Finding the right sales rep. Dealing with the sales rep. Presenting your product to the sales rep and try to get the product shipped out to the sales rep. That’s like a whole different then 

Reisa Schwartzman: Online sales reps. You have to count that they’re going to do their job. Sometimes they don’t do their job either. So sometimes they’re amazing and they’re fantastic when they’re really behind you. So there’s lots of challenges. There’s challenges on every step. You just have to really believe in what you do. And if you believe in what you can do, then you can get through the challenges. But definitely being an omni channel is more important. I think, people like to touch and feel as much as just buy online. Buy online, is convenient for people. But I still think that people like [00:16:00] the Omni channel of being able to touch and feel it too. 

Jason Hsieh: I agree. It should be a hybrid approach. So you have a retail presence and you have a strong online presence either on the marketplace and also on your own website as well. When people find you anywhere, it should be all across the board. So it’s representing.

Reisa Schwartzman: A strong website is a good idea. 

Jason Hsieh: For sure. For sure. And the next question I have is I know the Griddly Kids really emphasize on the importance of play in learning. 

How do you balance the education content and also with engaging and fun experiences for the kids?

Reisa Schwartzman: I think we talked about it a little bit earlier, but I think learning can happen anywhere. As long as the fun doesn’t get, Even in silly, I was going to say maybe as long as it’s not silly, but I think even in silly, you can be learning. If a child is having, enjoying themselves and fully engaged, even if it’s all learning, as long as it’s fully engaging, [00:17:00] then they’re going to be learning. Every time somebody, we do a photo shoot with BobBee, I’m learning a new way to play with it. For an example, they were a part and one of our guys that was taking photos took Bob, I can’t take it apart because my hands are sore, but Bob has, oh, maybe I can’t. Okay, yeah here we go. Bob has like a flat bottom, but it also has a half cup measure here.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah 

Reisa Schwartzman: and he found it really interesting just to put it under the tap and watch the water flow from there. All right, I never even thought about that like just learning the displacement of water in a different way and then a little gather guy, we’d attached it to the wall for him because we have suction cups and I always thought of it more from a drawing perspective or for something you could put it in here and you could throw something in or because you can wash hair and things like that. But in the end, the little guy just, he really enjoyed the pulling, which is a skill a little guy might need to learn is to pull. 

Jason Hsieh: Okay. On [00:18:00] the wall. Okay, got it. 

Reisa Schwartzman: Yeah, a product has all kinds of options that you might not even realize is a learning thing. As long as it’s engaging, and I think if parents are involved in it, they can explain things to like when you’re playing a board game or a science kit, do you just do the experiment or like when you’re doing the famous volcano with baking soda. Do you just do it and they get the reaction? Or do you explain what the reaction is? There’s fun. It’s a really great wow moment and it’s an opportunity to make it fun. Or it’s also an opportunity to say why and make them inquisitive. 

Jason Hsieh: What is your like ultimate goal behind the brand? What do you hope that the kids and the family to take away from the experience to the greater kids product?

Do you have an ultimate goal in mind of the impact you want to make through the toy that you’re designing and the toy you’re providing to the marketplace? 

Reisa Schwartzman: Yeah, that’s a big question. My ultimate goal. Of course, everybody’s hoping they’re making money. So that’s, put that elephant on the [00:19:00] shelf. I think the thing that really keeps me in the industry is, sometimes you think maybe, do I still want to be so busy? Do I still want to keep going? And then somebody comes up to me and said, I was just at a trade show and someone came up to me and said somebody who writes a magazine, who was covering something we make is, you know what I, my mom bought wise alec our trivia board game and our kids were playing it and it’s their favorite game and we play it all the time and it really brings our family together and it’s just, we just love it. Another show I had, somebody came up to me and he said, I gave one of your kits to an autistic child who had been nonverbal for over a year. There was this aha moment in one of the experiments and the child started talking again. I was in tears. Something that we offered and delivered inspired somebody to change their life and that we’re [00:20:00] bringing quality fun to families. So those are the things that keep driving me really make special moments.

And I’ll never know the people. When I taught, you saw, and when you’re a parent, you grow with your child. But to be able to deliver products into the hands of people you’ll never know, and bring joy and quality time. That’s my ultimate goal. 

Jason Hsieh: Thank you for sharing that. Even with my own brand, my ultimate goal is really to empower, educate. And really help change the life of kids with learning differences to some of our products. I can definitely relate to your mission and what you want to accomplish with the brand. 

As well, winding down in today’s interview, the last question I always like to ask every single guest is if you had to share just one piece of advice with someone that’s just getting started in the toy industry. What would that be? 

Reisa Schwartzman: One piece of advice. I think I’ve given little nuggets through the system, but it can’t be one word. Be [00:21:00] passionate about what you do your homework and know what the market is. Make sure you understand and really know what’s out there before you develop.

Jason Hsieh: Yeah. That’s a really good advice, doing that market and competitive analysis and research before you spend all the money creating a product is definitely 

Reisa Schwartzman: and be passionate about it because it’s a road, it’s a journey. 

Jason Hsieh: Where can the listener find you? 

Reisa Schwartzman: We usually be called Gridley Games, but now we’ve rebranded to Gridley Kids ’cause our products have diverse, so it’s Griddly, G-R-I-D-D-L-Y, kids, K-I-D-S.ca, ’cause we’re Canadian. So griddlykids.ca and you can find us on Amazon. You can find us on Instagram. Please follow us on Facebook and join our team. And if you have stories about our products, please share them. 

Jason Hsieh: Okay. Thank you for that. And I’ll make sure we put that in the show notes so people can easily. Find it on the podcast as well. It was my honor to have you on [00:22:00] the podcast today and thank you for sharing all your knowledge and your experience and your story.

Reisa Schwartzman: I wish everybody good luck on all their journeys. 

Jason Hsieh: Thank you so much. 

Reisa Schwartzman: Thank you.

Outro: You’ve been listening to Toy Business Unboxed, hosted by Jason Hsieh. Thank you for joining us and exploring the fascinating world of toys and the ingenuity behind them.

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