A good childhood, the Toy Academy way

Upcoming blog series: a peek into Danish childhood with the Toy Academy team

“Hey Mom, look what I can do!” Every day, children all over the world proudly shout out those words from sandboxes, tree tops, and kitchen tables. But what makes children beam with pride - climbing one branch higher than yesterday, flipping a pancake without dropping it on the floor, being able to write their name at the age of 3, or something else entirely - varies greatly from family to family and from country to country.

And just like our little ones, we parents beam with pride too. Every day, all over the world, we say to ourselves and anyone who will listen, “I want to do the very best I can for my child”. But what “the very best” means depends on who you ask. For some, it’s teaching their toddler to write early. For others, it’s learning to ride a bike at 2. And for others again, it’s being able to sit politely through dinner at a fancy restaurant.

Childhood and parenting are deeply rooted in habits and traditions. It’s only when we meet people who do things differently that we realise our own idea of a “good childhood” is just one among countless others.

At Toy Academy, we’ve learned a lot over the past few years. And since knowledge is meant to be shared, we’re opening the doors to our own world of play. In this blog series, we’ll show you some examples of what a typical childhood looks like in the homes of the Toy Academy play enthusiasts - AKA our lovely team of toy-loving fellow parents. Maybe you’ll feel inspired. Maybe you’ll be shocked. Or maybe you’ll simply be curious to learn more, or even share what childhood looks like in your own home.

Follow along in our upcoming series and learn something new, about growing up in Denmark and about yourself as a parent.

Children are natural explorers. They’re constantly discovering the world and picking up new skills. And sometimes we lucky grown-ups get to tag along for the ride and share in their pure joy of learning something for the very first time.

At Toy Academy, we’re a whole team of passionate people who come to work every day with one mission: to help parents help their children learn through fun, inspiring play. It all started back in 2005 when Ann and Jane, two mothers with toddlers on their hips, began selling giant tops, balance bikes, and Wheely Bugs on this brand-new thing called the Internet.

A lot has changed since then. Family life, the toy market, and Toy Academy itself have all grown and evolved faster than we could have imagined. The kids who played with our first fun and educational toys are now adults, and some are even parents themselves. And we are honoured that many of them are coming back to Toy Academy as our customers.

In the early days, we only had a Danish webshop. But today, we’re fortunate to be able to share our love of toys and learning through play in 5 other countries.

Our wonderful international team now consists of colleagues both online and here at our office in Denmark. Every day, we chat with customers from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, and if you ever join us for lunch, you’ll hear us chatting away in 7 different languages across the table.

We’ve learned that sharing little stories, ideas, and experiences from our own families about life, play, and parenting, is a lovely way to learn from one another. And now we’d love to invite you into the conversation about childhood, play, and parenting - the Toy Academy way. 

We’ll share our stories one at a time, and we’d love to hear from you too - maybe something reminds you of your own family or sparks a thought you’d like to share about our story or about life with your own little ones.

So let’s dive into our first story. It’s about how dirty kids are happy kids. After that, we hope you’ll enjoy the rest of our posts about what a good childhood looks like in the eyes of the Toy Academy play enthusiasts.