Jennifer Cooper of Ellie Bellie Kids

Hi there, I’m Jennifer Cooper and I’m positively giddy over aMuse asking me to guest post this week!

I’m the founder of Ellie Bellie Kids whose sole purpose is to provide smart, fun, sustainable, classic and imagination-exercising toys and gifts for children. We’ve been around for about five years and in that time we’ve been featured in Cookie Magazine (September 2008—oh how we miss you, Cookie!), and provided parents with alternatives to the typical birthday gift. But above all they’re classic. Though modern in design, our manufacturing techniques and materials are the same as they would have been fifty years ago.

aMuse would like me to tell you a bit about our inspirations and processes. Let’s start here...

What is our creative process?

I get this question a lot and I always struggle how answer it. There’s no simple explanation for how we come up with what we do. The inspiration comes from so many places: trips we’ve taken (Belgian castles!), experiences we’ve had (hello, preschool headdress!), studies I’ve read (I worked in the field of child psychology), childhood memories, and of course the things our kids do (robot dance!).

When I started off in this parenting gig. I was struck by how few toys I could find that didn’t come with unnecessary bells and whistles. It’s important to guide children, not do everything for them. I also learned from my years of working with kids that most adult brains have forgotten how to play. It’s now wired for things like knowing how to: write in cursive, read big words, work a computer, drive a car, iron clothes and use the vacuum cleaner.*

When we started Ellie Bellie Kids, we thought back to the classic toys or other items from our childhoods—the simple things that gave us the most joy—and built on them to create our line.

We’ve added several products to our line since our foray into the marketplace. Every time we come up with an idea we ask ourselves four questions:

1.  Does it encourage kids to think differently?

2.  Does it provide parents a jumping off point to guide their children’s play?

3.  Is it comfortable to wear and easy to take care of?

4.  Is it made ethically?

With these answers in-hand, we start designing. Most of our products go through at least fifty rounds of tweaks before we introduce them to the public. So while they may look deceptively simple, we’ve often spent a year or more making sure we’ve thought of everything.

Can we teach you how to make our stuff?

Sorry—that’s a trade secret. But I am happy to teach you how to make lots of other things. You can find some of my guest posts on various crafting sites. Plus, I have a whole host of crafting how-to’s on our online parenting magazine Classic Play (www.classic-play.com). There you’ll find tutorials from me and some of my fav designers.

Ellie Bellie Kids and aMuse: A match made in heaven?

As a parent, toy maker, and student of psychology, you can probably see why I am highly critical of what lines the shelves for kids these days. You may have heard about a food revolution underway. In short, it says that kids need real food, not overprocessed junk. I’m a big fan of this movement and I suggest we start an additional one for play—because kids need real toys, not overprocessed junk.

That is one of the reasons I love aMuse. All of the toys are carefully chosen and curated to delight and inspire curiosity. The toys are not only beautiful, they’re thoughtful.

Plus, being a Baltimore family ourselves (woot! Baltimore!), it gives me great joy to know that when I purchase toys locally, the money goes back into the community.

I’ve worked with many boutiques. Some great, others not so great. But aMuse has always been on the top of my great list. They provide a relationship and context for their customers and vendors. Having someone I can ask questions to about a product is something of a luxury these days. It’s a luxury I don’t ever want to give up.

What do you have planned for the future?

New illustrations, new products and new stories. The rest I have locked away in the ‘ol vault.

But I can tell you in addition to our product line, we’re going to continue to grow our online parenting magazine, Classic Play (www.classic-play.com). We’ve been fortunate to add some amazing writers (www.classic-play.com/contributors) and crafters to our little publication.

Well, it looks like my time is up. Thanks so much for having me aMuse! And thank you all for reading!

*This list of things grown ups know how to do was generated by my 7 and 4 year olds.

Comments

[cheryl]

Thank you for featuring Jen - she is one of the most creative people I know and her stuff is amazing!

[Aliza]

I am a new fan of aMuse, and an old fan of Jen's! What a great collaboration! I hope you BOTH stay in the toy business for a long, long time. :-)

[Angie]

great post, jen. as you know by now, ellie bellie kids gifts have been a staple in our household ... they are my fav! and my kids too :)

[Erin]

Jen! What a wonderful contribution to the aMuse Blog. I absolutely love being inspired by creative, responsible and purposeful women. Keep up the beautiful work!

[Claudia Towles]

Cheryl: It was our pleasure! She is a wonderful individual and we are thrilled to have her any day!

Aliza: I couldn't agree more! It's a wonderful partnership, one that we value and will continue expanding in the future!

Angie: You have excellent taste! Ellie Bellie Kids is wonderful and one of my favs :-)