Summertime fun! Super Spinner® was on LIVE with Kelly and Ryan!
Author: DEPlabs Admin
Wonder Crew® – Laurel Wider
“Boys aren’t supposed to cry.”
That was it…the moment Laurel Wider decided to do something about gender stereotypes for boys. Her son came home from preschool and made this declaration, something he learned at school, and Laurel’s heart sank. She didn’t want her son growing up restricted by gender stereotypes. As a psychotherapist and a mother, Laurel wondered what might help him (and other boys) to feel comfortable with ALL of his feelings.
Generally, when people think and talk about gender stereotypes, it’s about girls. However, boys face restrictive gender stereotypes issues as well. Laurel Wider has been a psychotherapist in private practice for over 12 years, with specialties in gender, relationships and identity formation, and she has witnessed many boys and men struggle to achieve impossible ideas of masculinity.
“Culturally, boys are raised to be tough and self-reliant, and I have seen this lead to isolation, depression and sometimes aggression,” says Laurel. “Even though I was aware of these harsh social expectations, I was floored when my own son began experiencing them.”
Laurel’s expertise as a psychotherapist and mother led her to the realization that gender stereotypes impact children early on, and that perhaps a way to reach young children and their parents was through toys, because children learn through play. However, when she began looking around, she saw a huge gap in the toy market. She observed that the only toys to encourage friendship and empathy were marketed solely to girls. A message was clearly being sent to many boys, and their parents, that this type of play is not for them.
Laurel’s “light bulb” moment then came to her: “I wondered…could a toy help boys learn to embrace emotions? I sought a common denominator that already resonated with many boys, and came to the realization that blending the adventure of an action figure with the emotional connection of a favorite stuffed animal would resonate with boys and promote social and emotional learning!” Using her passion and determination, Laurel launched a start-up, and Wonder Crew—dolls (yes, dolls!) for boys—was born!
She had a brilliant idea, but how did she make it a reality? While working full time as a therapist and parent, she entered into a business program in efforts to launch Wonder Crew. Launching on Kickstarter, she powered through the many challenges of manufacturing, distribution, customer service and more…and she came through it with glowing feedback from family, friends, customers, media, and even the White House!
The whole process has been very gratifying for Laurel. She’s always been drawn to gender equality, even back as a child when her favorite toy was She-Ra, Princess of Power, because she was a strong woman who could fight right alongside her brother’s He-Man! And now, to see her creation Wonder Crew being children’s treasured toys, is a phenomenal feeling. She remembers, “Soon after the first big shipment of Wonder Crew, I received so many emails from parents thanking me for creating this new play experience for their sons. Parents have expressed how excited they are to see their sons connecting, taking care of, and bonding with their Wonder Crew buddies. It’s been awesome!”
During the Toy Industry Association’s 2018 TOTY Awards (like the “Oscars” of toys), Wonder Crew Superhero Will won Doll of the Year! It was the first time a doll for boys had ever won such an award! Superhero Will was selected as the winner based on votes from toy retailers, media, Toy Association members and consumers. Laurel was very excited to receive such recognition: “It’s been incredibly humbling to stand side-by-side other nominees, but to win is beyond our wildest dreams,” said Wider.
Laurel lives Northampton, MA with her family, and continues to help develop Wonder Crew buddies and Adventure Pack accessories, while still running her own private practice. She enjoys helping enrich the lives of children and families, and engages Wonder Crew fans and parents regularly through social media. Hopefully now more little boys will grow up knowing that it’s okay to have a range of feelings and be their full selves.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWbDM6K37t8]
Wooly Willy® – James Herzog
June 24, 2005—Wooly Willy 50th birthday speech by James Herzog
Here are some facts about Willy’s magnetic powder. If you eat dry cereal for breakfast, you are eating Willy’s powder as an iron supplement. We used to get a call a week from a parent who had a child that had broken Willy open and eaten the powder. They wanted to know what would happen. If it’s in cereal, it is safe to eat. The powder, ground very finely, is used to make toner for copiers. The magnetic ink on U. S. Currency is made with a similar powder.
Now to Willy’s history—-Marvel Specialty Co, predecessor to Smethport Specialty Co. was founded in 1922 in a barn in the alley behind the Legion building. Founders were Bill Kerr, Ralph Herzog, and Sanford Fry. Smethport was just installing its own town electric system as no electric generating company would do so. That made it much more convenient to run a manufacturing operation. The first items were magnet and toys sets, flicker tops, racing tops, and pinwheels. But even before Marvel, there was the Electric Toy Co. of 1909 producing Bill Kerr’s magnet and toys sets. Its history was recently researched by Smethport High’s student Kayla Lincoln and details can be found at smethporthistory.org website.
In 1928 expanded operations required a larger building. 304 Fulton St., former site of the Boy’s Magazine, a block form here was available. Marvel moved there in there and became Smethport Specialty Co. in 1932. That was during the depression. Because their toys were low in cost, they continued to sell offering much needed employment. All toy production ceased during WWII. The company became R. W. Herzog Co. producing billions of mica insulators for proximity bomb radio tubes. After the war with reduced need for insulators, Smethport Specialty again surfaced making magnet and toy sets.
Wooly Willy was born in 1955 from the dust of magnet grindings and an awful lot of development work. It was a simple toy that seemed destined to fail as no chain store toy buyer had any interest; all saying the toy would never sell. A G. C. Murphy chain store buyer in McKeesport, PA decided to prove it with an order for six dozen for his Indianapolis store saying “I’ll still have all of them a year from now.” A few days after delivery he called ordering a thousand dozen. The rest is history, It went on to sell millions—being chosen on the Toy of the Century list for year 1955. Other toys for various years were Hula Hoop, Barbie, Potato Head, Lionel Trains, Hot Wheels so you see Willy is in good company. Interesting, the chain stores of the 1955s like Woolworth, Grant, Kresge, McCrory, and Green who purchased millions are gone but Lindgrens, our local unique variety store continues on their second half century sales of Willy.
Production of Willy began with a handfed printing press and paper cutter build in 1883 probably leftover from the Boys’ Magazine operation. Yellow cardboard was used as it was not practical to print that color. The first sets were assembled with a hand clamshell press of cards glued with contact cement. Unknown to us, when the contact cement was exposed to high temperatures, the glue bond failed. That was quickly corrected using wet glue. While we had found the perfect iron powder in magnetite it was frequently dirty making a mess of the faces. That problem was solved by developing a special coating. Fifty years have seen a complete revision of manufacturing techniques. Today’s Willys are automatically assembled. Printing equipment can run multiple colors. Cardboard cutting is done on programmable paper cutters.
What has Wooly Willy and his good friend Dapper Dan the Magnetic Man meant to Smethport for the past 50 years? For starters, it has presented the name of Smethport to the public about 200 million times. Willy alone, has given local people at least 1 ½ million hours of employment and more than four million hours on related products. It permitted the construction of a 100,000 square foot factory. Millions of dollars have been paid to regular and summer employees.
I would like to mention a few names of people that helped to achieve the initial success of Wooly Willy— Leonard Mackowski, a very talented design artist, Bark Daugherty, a neighbor who let me use his shop equipment when we had none, employees Bob Keenan, Carol Bishop, Edith Gustafson, Vinski Swanson, Peg Berg, Myrtle Kohn, Florence Lord, Willard Rounsville, Mary Johnson, Lucille Perry, Ida Firtzgerald, Jackie Konstanty, Mary Smith and there were many more. Mary Smith was quite unusual, making Willys until she was 80, and enjoying every minute of it.
Sometimes I hear that Smethport is not a town of opportunity. If a simple toy like Wooly Willy can generate and continue to generate all of these dollars. There must be many other ideas that can come from the people to do the same. We have a beautiful community with good schools and many other outstanding features. If you like it here, you can make it happen here.
On quick story in closing, a woman wrote, “My son had been in the hospital for three months without smiling until he received Dapper Dan.” You can be assured that letter generated a few more smiles.
Let’s look forward to another 50 years of Wooly Willy.
To set up an interview with James Herzog, please contact us.
The Game of Things® – Tom Quinn
THINGS…™ you should know about
Tom Quinn
(“The Game of THINGS…™” Co-Inventor)
Tom Quinn has always understood the power of laughter. At 6 years old he pushed his swimming instructor into a cold pool because he thought it could possibly be funny. He didn’t get his level one badge in swimming but he was right. It was hilarious. Everybody laughed.
Since then Tom has always come up with creative ways to make people giggle.
Over the years he and his brother Ted were constantly creating comedic versions of existing board games, party games and even sports. Thus it was fated that, 10 years ago, they and a high school friend, Mark Sherry, came up with the idea for the world’s funniest party game: The Game of THINGS™
THINGS…™ is a who-said-what game with attitude that turns everyone into a comedian. Players write responses to provocative topics such as…
“THINGS…™ you shouldn’t tie to the roof of your car”.
“THINGS…™ your parents forgot to tell you”.
“THINGS…™ you wouldn’t do for all the money in the world.”
…and then take turns trying to guess who wrote what.
It is such a hysterical game that as of March 2013 THINGS…™ has sold over 1.3 MILLION COPIES. Also, in 2006 THINGS…™ won the Canadian Toy Testing Counsel’s top award. Quinn, who in the first 3 years traveled across Canada doing hundreds of radio, TV and print interviews says for him it all comes down to the comedy. “One million games sold means we have inspired many more millions of people to actually laugh. We’re proud of that”.
In 2013, Tom won a Toy & Game Inventor (TAGIE) Award for Excellence in Game Design. It was a proud moment for Tom, his co-inventors, and PlayMonster.
When not inventing games, Tom can be found behind a movie camera, working as an Assistant Director with some of Hollywood’s biggest names: Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Deniro, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Douglas, David Cronenberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Gus Van Sant and countless others in a career spanning 27 years.
Tom is a hockey playing Canadian who also has a degree in literature. He lives in Toronto with his wife of twenty years, who still laughs at his old jokes, and his two young children who giggle the moment he enters the room.
You can check out Tom’s movie credits at the Internet Movie Data Base http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0704016/
To set up an interview with Tom Quinn, please contact us.
Photo courtesy of Toysbulletin.com
Shizzle™ – David Peterson
The dice game Shizzle™ came from the mind of David L. Peterson. A mind with a PhD in Physics: laser spectroscopy of diluted magnetic semiconductors in high magnetic fields at temperatures as low as 1.4 K. It may sound intimidating, but this impressive mind uses its smarts for fun, with visions of dice and numbers and a unique new game.
As a child, Peterson enjoyed playing board games that were clever and smart. Games that offered a challenge made for the most fun, and his favorite was Risk. Playing for world domination made for a good time in Peterson’s book, and although he didn’t grow up to rule the world, he has accomplished many great things to date.
Peterson took his PhD-Physics knowledge to Eastman Kodak, where he gained experience in opto-electronic devices and optical recording media (particularly metrology and product development). He moved from cameras to toys when he took a position dealing with searching for new technology for games and toys at a leading game manufacturer. Peterson sums up his work experience “as a series of problems (games) to be solved (won) within a set of constraints (rules).” It’s a great summation for life, as well.
It was after his time at a leading game manufacturer that Peterson began to think about creating his own game. He wanted to invent a family-friendly game that would be competitive with digital games, which have grown more and more popular. He wanted his game to be quick to set up, easy to keep score and addictive, much like digital games. Dice were on his mind, and he knew that people liked the tactile sensation of rolling dice, which was not something a digital game could offer. Rather than just use standard dice and think up a few fluffy rules, Peterson really thought about dice. How would a line of dice look? How could they form lines and offer a unique challenge? Shizzle! The black dice with color pips are each different. Not one of the six dice is similar—there are six dice each with six different sides, which means 36 unique sides! It’s a tricky behind-the-scenes formula Peterson concocted to make your game-playing experience one-of-a-kind! See? He uses his PhD powers for fun!
Peterson, owner of Parpen Solutions, resides in Florida with his wife of 35 years and has four daughters, three awesome sons-in-law, and three grandchildren. He recalls that his family enjoyed Shizzle when they played it, but Peterson knew he needed professional feedback to know whether or not he had a golden idea. With a positive expert opinion or two under his belt, Peterson approached PlayMonster with his dice game, and PlayMonster bit.
Peterson’s goal is to be a successful game inventor with multiple games on the market simultaneously. He makes it a point to visit the game aisle of local stores to study the game trends and understand what game companies are looking for and competing against. So far, his hard work, unique ideas and professional persistence have paid off, and he’s off to a great start as a game inventor with Shizzle!
To set up an interview with David Peterson, please contact us.
Roominate® – Alice Brooks
Every little girl wants a doll, or several really, and so did 8-year-old Alice Brooks. She asked her dad for a doll, but he made the bold decision to not buy his daughter a doll. Instead, he gave little Alice a saw, and being her father’s daughter, Alice was bold and made her own doll out of wood and nails. It may have been her first project, but she had been playing in her dad’s robotics lab while growing up, so she was no stranger to engineering.
Today, Alice has many more accomplishments to her name: a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford, and co-founder of the line of STEM-focused building toys Roominate®. She and her partner pitched Roominate on the well-known TV show Shark Tank, and landed a deal with Mark Cuban!
How and why did Alice develop Roominate? She and her co-founder, both engineers who were inspired by childhood toys, saw a strong division between girls’ and boys’ toys. And, they noticed a lack of creative building options for girls, which bothered them because they wanted more girls to be inspired by toys like they were years earlier. Again being bold, Alice decided to solve this problem, and she and her partner came together to design a toy with one simple mission: Open up possibilities for girls by showing them that creativity and engineering are fun.
Roominate is quickly becoming a popular toy line that builds confidence in technology and engineering, all while being intuitive and fun! Girls can design and build their own carnival, townhouse, pet vet and more, and then add circuits and motors to bring their creations to life! Alice enjoys watching children be inspired by Roominate, having fun and building self-confidence while becoming creative engineers! The line is winning several awards, including Forbes “Top 10 Toys to Watch in 2015,” TIME “Toy of the Year” and 2015 TOTY Finalist.
With the success of Roominate, Alice has become well-respected in the toy industry and business community. In 2015, Alice was named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and in 2016 was included in the 30 under 30 all-star alumni list. She was also invited to attend the White House conference “Breaking Down Gender Stereotypes in Media and Toys,” and asked to be a member of a panel at the 2016 Forbes Women’s Summit, “The Lives You Impact: The Role of Culture in Educating and Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders.”
At the end of 2015, Roominate was acquired by the toy company PlayMonster. Alice continues to work on the development of Roominate and is excited about working with PlayMonster. She’s confident about this next phase of Roominate’s life and says, “PlayMonster’s entrepreneurial spirit and innovative culture is exactly what we were looking for to help grow Roominate.” Her first PlayMonster projects were working with other engineers and artists to design all new pieces for Roominate sets, improving the motor function and redesigning the dolls. So, yes, Alice is still building dolls, but now it’s for the next generation of engineers.
To set up an interview with Alice Brooks, please contact us.
Perplexus® – Michael McGinnis
The poet Jonathan Swift once said, “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others,” and vision is what Michael McGinnis had as a high-schooler. As an art project, he was asked to design a board game. He wasn’t a lover of board games, so he thought beyond the flat, standard “board game” stereotype. McGinnis had vision—3D vision—and Perplexus began as a sketch on a piece of paper back in 1979. Today, it’s a popular, colorful 3D maze game.
Children and adults across the world can thank McGinnis’ high school art teacher for telling him to go beyond that 3D maze game sketch and “make it!” This encouragement led to more conceptual development, McGinnis’ vision growing and changing. In his first sketch, the concept was cube-shaped and attached to its walls, and now it’s sphere-shaped with pathways that appear free-floating. His early designs, including Perplexus Original, were made completely by hand, and now he designs digitally. It may have taken 22 years from conception to the first production model, but the vision never died.
McGinnis didn’t allow fear or hardships stand in the way of his vision. Sure, he was afraid of putting his idea out there—success or failure could change his life—but he still ventured forth. Now a teacher at a junior college, with a BA and MFA in sculpture, McGinnis also barreled through a misdiagnosis that would prove ironic. He was born partially blind in his left eye, but was misdiagnosed with a lazy eye as a child. As an adult, doctors discovered the problem, and that McGinnis did not have normal depth perception due to this spotty blindness. How could someone with impaired depth perception have had a sculpting career in 3-dimensional study? His doctor suggested that his unique ability to think spatially, and therefore be accomplished in his field, was in response to his inability to see things in the round like most people do. McGinnis’ vision impairment didn’t affect his creative vision, and, perhaps even facilitated the development of Perplexus!
As of 2013, there are four unique versions of the Perplexus maze game. Perplexus Epic was the biggest challenge to create. The advanced pathways, forms, interconnections and spatial relationships were a constant struggle, not to mention dealing with software snafus. But, it was worth it when Epic won the Toy Industry Association 2013 Game of the Year award! McGinnis now spends time working on new designs, as well as building large sculptural models that travel to events. He also continues to teach, so McGinnis lives a very full, busy life in Santa Rosa, California with his wife and family.
McGinnis’ original thought behind Perplexus was to create a tool to help children develop their spatial reasoning and hand/eye coordination skills. He also knew it would be an aesthetic sculptural object, a piece of art that is visually, as well as physically, stimulating. But perhaps what escaped his original vision and developed on its own was the pure joy and fun of playing with Perplexus, because it is truly an amusing challenge that is above and beyond a flat board game, and above and beyond what other toy inventors before McGinnis could see. Have you tried it yet?
To learn more and see McGinnis in action, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/SuperplexusDotCom
To set up an interview with Michael McGinnis, please contact us.
Photo courtesy of Laura McGinnis
Marbleocity® – Adam Hocherman
Growing up in New York, Adam Hocherman loved construction toys and disassembling, repairing and tinkering with things – building R/C (radio controlled) cars, electric trains, balsawood airplanes, and whatever else he could get his hands on. This ultimately led to his love of engineering, and his passion for product design.
He obtained a degree from Cornell University – twice! First a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and later he went back for his MBA. His education and experiences at Cornell lead to the founding of his first company, American Innovative. That company manufactured specialty alarm clocks, timers and, ultimately a very successful line of children’s clocks and night-lights which he sold to PlayMonster in 2014.
Inspired by what he had learned with his first product company, Adam set out to create something new. After carefully considering what he liked and didn’t like about running the first business, he came up with a list of qualities that he thought would make for an interesting product: something educational, a building kit, wooden, and made in America. Ultimately he created an experience that he hoped would set the company apart from competitors.
With his list in mind, Adam founded Tinkineer in 2015 – a Beverly, MA based company with an exciting new line of STEM maker kits designed for children 9+. Tinkineer launched its first products through Kickstarter – Marbleocity, a series of build-it-yourself marble machines made of laser-cut Baltic birch plywood. Marbleocity let Adam combine his passion for education and designing children’s toys with his desire to design a product in the United States at a manufacturing facility that he set up himself.
Clearly, Adam’s vision resonated with many people as the Kickstarter surpassed its goal by raising over $130,000 – more than nine times the initial goal – with over 1,500 backers. Each Marbleocity kit is designed to introduce children to engineering and physics concepts with engaging lessons told through the eyes of the “Tinkineers,” a group of comic characters presented in graphic novella form. The principles introduced are then reinforced through the construction of the kits and brought full circle with real world examples and applications. The use of Baltic birch plywood further differentiates Marbleocity from most other STEM and science kits by creating a sensory experience: it’s tactile and it even smells good, thanks to the laser-cutting process that leaves a “campfire” aroma.
In March of 2017, PlayMonster acquired Tinkineer and its Marbleocity line. Adam was also given an exciting role with the company as PlayMonster’s Vice President of New Business, where he continues to help grow the Tinkineer line and to develop other new product opportunities!
To set up and interview with Adam Hocherman, please contact us!
Maureen Hiron Card Games
Maureen Hiron is a woman of many talents, and a woman who lives a very active and diverse life. Her career began in education—she was a games mistress (head of the physical department) at a large London comprehensive school—until she was pensioned off from teaching when she was injured in an accident where part of the school fell on her head, at the ripe old age of 32.
Maureen’s future was unknown—she couldn’t teach, and her head injury left some damage—and she wasn’t sure what to do with her life, but she didn’t give up. Maureen decided to devote her time to playing bridge, as she was an expert player and hoped the mental exercises of playing would help penetrate the cloud that enshrouded her damaged brain. Fortunately, something great happened…Maureen’s brain began to work in an incredible way, allowing her to be able to reason with the intuitive mind of a child, yet still retain her knowledge and high IQ level!
It was on April Fool’s Day in 1982 that Maureen noticed the change, having her first inspiration for a top-selling game! So, where she was once a “games mistress” teacher, she now became a “games mistress” inventor!
Maureen’s new talent and passion has fueled her conception and design of over 70 games published around the world, in over 50 countries! A few of her recent games—Grabolo, 7 ATE 9, Qwitch—are manufactured by PlayMonster as a family-friendly line of card games. Maureen’s unique ability to create a game that can be enjoyed across generations is the secret behind many of her games’ successes.
As she continues to develop new games, Maureen also remains devoted to playing bridge, having represented England and Britain in tournaments around the world. She and her late husband also wrote several best-selling books together, and she has also worked on several TV shows, was the bridge columnist for two national newspapers in England, and writes bridge columns weekly for an Irish daily newspaper. Most recently, Maureen has taught herself to play the concert organ and compose music. She made friends with musician Sheyla Bonnick of Boney M while on a cruise, and the two have since released an album together, titled Look Beyond.
Even though Maureen was forced to change her life direction at a young age, she never lost her spirit, and is leading a very full and interesting life because of that. The world is lucky to be able to enjoy her talents, sharing that brilliance with friends and family through game play.
Kid O® – Lisa Mahar
“Children are the most inventive, humorous, eccentric creatures on the planet.”
As founder of Kid O Toys, Lisa Mahar spent every day working to cultivate these qualities, which are natural in all kids. Kid O Toys are informed by research into childhood development as well as Lisa’s professional training in architecture, which gave her a versatile, interdisciplinary skill set required to work in a wide range of creative disciplines, including graphic design, photography, and industrial design.
When she began her career as an architect, Lisa never imagined that it would lead her to start a successful toy company. But when she became a mother, Lisa discovered that she wanted to learn more about how children thought, played, and developed. So she created a job for herself to answer those questions, and Kid O was born soon after her first son.
Before it was a toy company, Kid O was a toy store in New York City’s West Village. The retail location specialized in products that encouraged kids to be creative, confident, and independent. Lisa developed the store’s minimalist interior in defiance of the idea that children are maximalists at heart. The store’s concept proved a success, and in 2008 it was recognized by New York Magazine as the “Best Toy Store in New York.”
As a mother and store owner, Lisa realized how hard it was to find intelligent, well-designed toys that were also affordable. So she decided to make her own, beginning with the Magnatab. The first Magnatab (Uppercase A-Z) was made for her five-year-old son, who had been struggling with writing and reading in school. Lisa observed that her son was only using written worksheets to trace the letters and realized that simply wasn’t engaging him enough. Inspired by educational philosophies developed by Maria Montessori-a leader in children’s education-Lisa developed a multi-sensory magnetic tablet that has tactile, auditory and visual cues to help solidify learning. The Magnatab was revolutionary in that it taught all kinds of learners to write in a natural and engaging way. In 2008, Kid O produced its first product line, which included the Magnatab, their best selling product to date.
As technology became ubiquitous in our lives-and in the toy aisle- Lisa challenged herself to incorporate new technologies into her toys while staying consistent with her belief that when children’s play is powered by their own imaginations, they’ll develop skills that will last for a lifetime. Her solution was the Myland line, a series of toys that incorporate some technological elements without limiting possibilities for open-ended, creative play. Like other Kid O products, the Myland aesthetic reflects Lisa’s background in design and architecture and places an emphasis on simplicity, craft, and modern design.
In 2018, Kid O was acquired by the toy company PlayMonster. Lisa is excited for the next step in Kid O’s journey and says, “My first son’s natural curiosity sparked my imagination and inspired Kid O. I think becoming a mom made me a better designer, and being a designer made me a better mom. Embracing both roles led me to create toys that encouraged the natural inventiveness, humor, and discovery I saw in my son every day. 14 years later, I am delighted PlayMonster will continue Kid O’s mission to help kids make sense of the world around them.”
