Fat Brain Toys: Making Children Smarter Through Open-Ended Play

“There are two types of toys in this world. Those that make a child think, and those that don’t.” This statement is the guiding tenet behind Fat Brain Toys whose tag line is: Smarter Toys = Smarter Kids. After a relatively futile internet search for a GeoMag magnetic building set to round out his set, 10 year old Adam Carson suggested to his father Mark that they create an online toy store to sell the specialty toy. And Fat Brain Toys was born.

From its humble beginnings in the Carson’s basement in 2002, Fat Brain Toys now runs out of a commercial showroom and warehouse and boasts more than 100,000 satisfied customers.

What makes GeoMag, the first toy distributed by Fat Brain Toys, so smart? “It’s intuitive - you pick up two simple components and you know exactly what to do with them. (Kids) know instinctively what to do.” Toys like GeoMag that allow for unlimited creative experiences lend themselves towards the European trend of providing a few ideas and a picture of a model and letting the children figure it out. “They don’t believe in instructions.”

When it comes to selecting toys that meet Fat Brain Toys’ standards, initially it was based on instinct. Now, Mark and his team have developed a 14 point checklist to ensure the toys meet the mark. As for Mark’s favorites, he loves construction toys like GeoMag and Lincoln Logs that he can sit down with his kids and play. Another favorite? Kites. “It’s a bit odd for a toy category, but I love it because it automatically becomes a family event. Everyone participates in some fashion.” And for the baby and toddler set Mark favors Bilibo a shell shaped object that allows kids to decide how to play with it. “The kids will never ask ‘what is it for?’” (although parents might) “they intuitively know they can use it for whatever they want it to be. On the more traditional side, we don’t get too much into dolls, but we carry a line called ‘teach me toddler’” that is suitable for the preschool age and teaches shoe-tying, buttoning, even dolls that teach languages like Spanish and Russian.”

Another driving factor of Fat Brain Toys? Unplugged. “We really play down electronics. We don’t get into DVDs and computer games,” says Mark. “If you’re expecting these toys to babysit your child you’ll be sadly disappointed.” Fat Brain Toys is all about engaging your children and Mark says it takes participation for that to happen.

“Our mission is to separate ourselves from the common perception of what toys have become,” says Mark. “(We) want to be an alternative to what you find in the big box toys, (to) truly teach children the lessons that stick with them for a lifetime.”

One new aspect of the company: they are both a distributor and a developer of toys. Their first product, Dado Cubes, is newly released and is already an award winner. Dado Cubes offer a new twist on classic building blocks. These clever cubes have slits on the sides to create an unlimited number of three-dimensional structures, allowing you to stack vertically, nested and horizontally. “It’s one of these toys that whatever you come up with – there is no wrong answer – it is an absolute masterpiece.” Now that’s clever.

Visit Fat Brain Toys at www.fatbraintoys.com