Anna Yudina With The Toy Association

Intro: We’re broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here, another episode of Association Leadership Radio. And this is going to be a fun one. Today on the show, we have Anna Yudina with the Toy Association. Welcome, Anna.

Anna Yudina: Hi Lee, thanks for having.

Lee Kantor: Me. I am so excited to learn about what you got going on. Tell us about the toy association, how you serve in folks.

Anna Yudina: Absolutely. The toy association is a not for profit trade association and we represent hundreds of companies all in the toy play and youth entertainment industry. So it is a fun industry, as you can imagine. Our members include toy manufacturers, retailers, licensors, inventors, designers. So pretty much anybody who is involved in creating and marketing toys and games for kids of all ages. That’s what we do.

Lee Kantor: Now, are your members. I would imagine there are some kind of enterprise level members, but are there also kind of that lone inventor or creator of a game or a toy?

Anna Yudina: So our members are companies. If a lone inventor or designer, they have their own company and a lot of them chew, they can absolutely become a member of the toy association. We have different levels of membership, so probably the best way to find out is just visit our website Toy association dot org and talk to our member services. I know that a lot of companies are members, but also a lot of solo entrepreneurs. It’s such an entrepreneurial industry. So while everybody knows Lego and Mattel and Hasbro and all of those big companies, the majority of our members are actually much, much smaller. And a lot of them, they they started their own company and then did their own game or came up with a really good idea.

Lee Kantor: Now, in your work, as I understand it, part of the mission is to support learning through play. Can you talk about how important play is to learning?

Anna Yudina: Absolutely. That is a huge part of our mission at the toy association, and we do that in many ways. But the major way in which we do that is our genius of play initiative. And the Toy Association started the genius of play in 2015. And so we have been doing that for for several years. It is consumer facing. So our audience is parents, caregivers and it’s also educators. And really the goal of the initiative is to support learning through play and all benefits of play and developmental benefits of play. So in the beginning, we started by working with a lot of experts in child development and education and disseminating important research that talks about the benefits of play, making sure parents are aware of all the wonderful things kids are learning to play. So that was in the beginning. And then over the years, we really saw the demand from families as well as educators for play based resources. So a lot of parents understand the benefits of play and definitely the educators too. But it’s what to do with the kids. How do I promote this learning through play? How do I foster social skills in my child’s play? So we provide tons of play of play ideas, ready to use activities. You can find it all on our website. The Genius of play dot org. And for educators, there are also a lot of needs for play based lessons, play based learning activities that they can show in the classroom or in the after school and the camp. Whatever is the educational setting, it can be formal or informal. So we have a special section for teachers as well on the website and we provide a lot of those resources. So those are the ways in which we help families making it easier for families to bring more play to to kids, to their lifestyle and also in schools making it easier for educators to teach kids through play.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you were doing this kind of research and seeing kind of the demand from parents and kids enjoying this kind of thing, was that something that the manufacturers were like, Wow, this is really something we should be leaning into? Did you see kind of an increase in the amount of creativity and maybe attention to including learning as part of the play that these toy manufacturers were doing?

Anna Yudina: Yeah, I definitely have seen that over the years. I worked in the toy industry before for a toy company, and then I came back, joined the toy association in 2015. So really have been watching that for a while. And I have to tell that, yes, the educational component connecting play to what kids are learning. That has been a growing trend over all of these years. And Steam toys, that is a good example of that. They stand for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. The toys are educational in nature. They are supposed to teach kids exactly those subjects. They’re supposed to teach them about chemistry and other sciences and building and technology and things like that. But even apart from and that has been a growing trend, really, really taking taking a lot of a lot of space in product manufacturing, in toy manufacturers line, but also even separate and apart from steam toys, just connecting toys to emotional benefits, for instance, doll play and nurturing empathy, connecting play to physical and cognitive benefits to creativity. Definitely that has been happening.

Lee Kantor: As well as representation. You’ve seen a lot more of that as well.

Anna Yudina: Absolutely, yes. Diversity and inclusion and making sure that the toys that kids play with, they reflect the diversity of the world that we live in. And that, again, goes back to also what parents are looking for. A lot more parents are aware of the social issues and they want to teach kids about those social issues early on, diversity being one of them, diversity and inclusion. But there is also environment and sustainability is so toys that address that and teach kids should be respectful of nature, of animals, of the world that we live in. That has definitely been a growing trend as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned steam. I know that your association releases a holiday toy guide for Steam related toys. Can you talk about that?

Anna Yudina: Yeah. So we actually did that for the first time this holiday season. We issued our holiday 2022 Steam Toy Guide and all of the toys that are featured in the Guide. They have been independently reviewed and accredited. So the toy association now has the STEAM accreditation program and we do it in partnership. Our accreditation partner is the good play guide. They have decades of experience in the toy evaluation space, so they are the ones who review and test and evaluate all the toys. So only toys that pass the accreditation were eligible for inclusion in our holiday guide. And beyond the accreditation, of course, we looked at toys that address a variety of ages. So there is a toy in the guide that’s good for kids as young as 18 months old or young. But there are also toys that are good for kids that are much older tweens, teens and pretty much any age group. So that was an important consideration. And also we look for toys that really cover the whole spectrum of steam. So it’s science, technology, it’s a lot of other disciplines. So we have a chemistry set, for example, but we also have a robot that kids can use to learn how to code. We have a lot of construction sets, but we even have a butterfly garden kind of toys. So really the variety of toys that address all the different areas of steam. That was an important consideration for putting together this holiday guide. And we also have a partnership with Amazon now. So in addition to the holiday guide which people can find at toy Association dot org, there is also a theme accredited toy store front right on Amazon and people can access it from Amazon’s toys and games page and that includes all of the products that have been accredited so far that are sold on Amazon. So if you’re looking for even larger selection of toys, steam toys specifically, that’s a good place to check out.

Lee Kantor: Yeah. And for those who aren’t aware, the importance of kids embracing steam when it comes to education is critical. I mean, that’s the future of education, of kids jobs later on. So if you can start building interest and desire and love of those kind of things early through toys, you can be putting your kid on the right path when it comes to a really important career. And in areas where they’re hungry for talent, I mean, the unemployment rate for steam jobs is probably zero right now because they’re so hungry for for people that have that kind. Degree in education.

Anna Yudina: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. And again, parents understand that. We did a survey with parents and we asked them what is the ideal age for a child to start exploring their future career? And you know what they told us? Five and one half. Five and a half. That was the average age. So that is a really young child. So what is the best way for kids of that age to explore a career or to explore anything? It is absolutely toys and play because that’s the language that these kids understand. That’s something that they can relate to. So toys and play absolutely are critical to sort of spark that early interest and help a child become interested and start forming that healthy relationship with science and math. So instead of like, oh, it’s complicated, oh, I’m afraid of math, or I have this fear or it’s abstract. I don’t really get it. I don’t know what it’s used for. Toys help kids relate those disciplines to the world around them and make them real for lack of a better world.

Lee Kantor: Right? And they can actually participate in it. It isn’t like theoretical or hypothetical where they have to imagine things. This is them actually touching things and and using things. So it comes alive. And some people learn better by doing things like that rather than just watching someone right on the on the on a whiteboard.

Anna Yudina: Right, Exactly. You learn by doing and being hands on and active involvement. Those are actually some of the criteria that are used in our toy assessment framework. So when we accredit toys or rather when the good play guide evaluates toys for accreditation, this is something that they evaluate. Does the toy promote that active hands on involvement in seeing?

Lee Kantor: Now, you mentioned earlier this genius of play initiative. I know that you were kind of a champion of that. Why was that so important to you?

Anna Yudina: To me personally, I as I mentioned, I worked in the toy industry before. So I come from this industry. I have this love for play and products and for our little customers. So it was great to come back to the industry in a different kind of role. But also I saw I saw a lot of potential and I saw a great need for an initiative like that. And back in 2015, things were a little bit different. That was pre-pandemic. So people were very, very busy as they are today. But I think pandemic just changed the lot and help those look a little bit differently at work life balance. But back in 2015, kids were just as busy as adults and they were going from one activity to the next. And families were placing a lot of emphasis on formal education, on tests, on studying for testing and studying for college, and mastering those skills that are taught in the classroom. And that’s all great, but it needs to be balanced with play. And play usually is less structured. It’s fun. It’s it’s learning. You’re learning things, but you’re learning them almost inadvertently. A lot of times you’re not even a child doesn’t know that they’re learning to play and they just look like they’re having so much fun. So there was a need to kind of like market play a little bit better and really connect those dots between play and learning and help parents understand that, that even though it may not look like they’re learning a whole lot, they actually are practicing important skills. So that initially attracted me to the genius of play and the toy association. And then, like I said, over the years, the initiative has evolved so much it has become more of a resource of free play ideas and downloadable activities and all the fun stuff that you can do with the kids or in the classroom as a teacher. So I would say that I have grown, continue to grow with the initiative and evolve, and that has always been interested in this.

Lee Kantor: Yeah, it’s funny. I think it’s just reminding people of their youth when there was much less structured play and people were went out to play and they were on their own and it was chaotic and they were learning on their own by doing and we went, the pendulum swung to the other side where everything was structured. You had a coach or a teacher and everything was very in in a box. And I think encouraging people to have this kind of unstructured play is critical and it reminds people of possibilities you can’t kind of plan out. So and there’s so much there for kids, and I think kids are hungry for that.

Anna Yudina: Absolutely. Yeah, kids. And I think a lot of adults are hungry for that, too. One of the trends that we see in the toy industry is a lot more adults are interested in toys, buying toys for themselves and pursuing all kinds of hobbies and activities that are playing basically.

Lee Kantor: Well, if somebody wants to learn more, what is the website? What are the coordinates to get the guide to? To learn more about the toy association, if you can remind us one more time.

Anna Yudina: Yeah, absolutely. So if you’re a parent, caregiver or educator, I would suggest you head over to the genius of play dot org. This is our consumer facing website. That’s where you can find all the resources that I mentioned. You can subscribe to our email list on the website. You can also, if you’re active on social media, you can find us on Instagram, on Facebook. It’s at Genius of Play. We also have a steam section on the genius of play dot org and you can see all the products that have been steam accredited so far in that section. But if you are looking to learn about the toy association as an organization and everything that we do, because obviously we do a lot more than just the genius of play and Steam accreditation, you can go to toy association dot org and that’s where you can also find out what our members are and how you can become a member if that’s something that’s of interest to you. So basically learn about everything Toy association does. Toy association dot org.

Lee Kantor: Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Anna Yudina: Thank you, Lee. It’s been a pleasure.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Association Leadership Radio.