GUEST COLUMNIST Brea Brand, ceo and co-founder of CONNETIX, gives insight into the evolving landscape of educational toys, and why parents are choosing toys that promote learning through play. As a masters qualified educator and esteemed business owner, Brea shares what drives the globally loved construction brand and the exciting opportunities ahead for CONNETIX. Right: Brea Brand.
THE RISE OF EDUCATIONAL TOYS
T
he toy industry as we know it is a rapidly changing and innovative space, which makes staying ahead of the game as important as ever. While the benefits of play have been widely recognised for many years, more recently we’ve seen a big push towards educational play and toys that are designed to build essential skills for children. With more and more parents, educators and allied health professionals across the globe searching for quality, hands-on resources that engage young learners, we’re seeing exciting growth and innovations in the educational toy market. Undoubtedly, one of the fastest growing categories in the industry is construction. Providing so much more than entertainment value, construction toys like CONNETIX can help provide the essential building blocks for all areas of learning and development. From problem-solving to fine motor skills, boosting imagination, creativity, focus and resilience, plus a wide range of STEAM learning concepts and more. It’s therefore not surprising that construction toys are becoming a leading choice for parents with long-lasting educational and play value for children of all ages and abilities. When my business partner, Dave Alexander, and I founded CONNETIX in 2019, we could never have envisioned the incredible growth and support our brand
would receive from the community. From the beginning, our mission has always been to champion learning through play by producing highquality products and achieving this by nurturing strong partnerships. Which brings us to today, where we have a dynamic and experienced team of educators, allied health professionals, play specialists and industry experts who continue to drive our mission and inspire play for families around the world. Education is truly at the heart of everything we do. By sharing our passion and experience we can authentically engage with our amazing play community of over 822k followers across the globe through our social media channels. These platforms provide a unique social listening tool for us to connect with parents and customers to better understand the ways they’re seeking to play with CONNETIX. We know families are looking for toys that will engage children in meaningful ways and provide endless play
Above: The next 12 months will be huge for the Connetix brand, says Brea.
possibilities to be enjoyed again and again. Particularly for the preschool sector, customers love the wide range of hands-on learning and sensory benefits of CONNETIX play in helping children with everyday life skills such as spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination, perseverance, self-regulation, communication and more. Another standout for our customers is seeking quality toys that grow with children as they learn and develop, and ultimately, toys that bring families of all ages together through play. By continuing to connect and listen to our customers we can ensure that we’re delivering products that meet their needs and lead industry innovations. To make this possible, we’ve learned to be agile and expand our teams and resources to meet the growing global demand. Although business expansion brings a new set of challenges, we’ve embraced each opportunity which has allowed us to achieve many incredible milestones. The next 12 months will be huge for our brand, with the most product releases and our biggest innovations yet. Alongside many developments in the pipeline, our ultimate goal is to see CONNETIX available to, and in the hands of kids everywhere. So, we will continue to spread the word and share the joy of open-ended play in fun and innovative ways. Stay tuned, the next chapter for CONNETIX is set to be truly exciting.
15 15_Guest Columnist.indd 1
08/05/2025 09:11