|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Becoming a parent can be a surprising experience in many ways. In Redwood City resident Amy Bearman’s case, one thing she hadn’t expected was how, even as a newborn, her daughter was already actively responding to the world around her.
“I kind of thought that she would be, like, a potato for longer,” Bearman recalled with a laugh. “What I was surprised at is how quickly she seemed to really benefit from having interesting things to look at and to do, even from a month old or even younger.”
This observation, along with a desire to avoid filling up her house with unwanted stuff that would soon be outgrown, led Bearman to start her business BurbleBox, a Peninsula-based company that offers curated baby and toddler toy rentals.
Bearman’s mother-in-law is an artist and was an early childhood educator, as is her sister-in-law, and Bearman noticed how her daughter appeared fascinated by the mobiles and cards they made her.
“I could see how much she got out of that. Even having the black-and-white cards placed around our home at a diaper-changing station, (or) where her bouncer was, she would just stare at them for hours. So I thought, ‘Okay, I really need to get on this toy thing for her earlier than I thought.'”
She began researching toy companies, “But then I started thinking, ‘Well, this is a lot to buy, and it’s a lot to keep in a small home. Isn’t there a service where I can swap them out?'”
As a consumer, Bearman was already a fan of rental services for products such as clothing, and sustainable options such as refilleries for kitchen goods. She posted in a few Bay Area parenting groups asking if anyone knew of a business offering a similar model for toys, and if they’d be interested in using one if it was available. She put up a waitlist and within just a few days had about 100 sign-ups of potential customers.
“I realized there was a lot of demand for this,” she said.
Each BurbleBox set is curated for kids of a certain age and stage of development, from newborn up to about age 3. Families return the box when they’re ready for the next one, about two months later. There are 12 boxes total, with six toys in every box, at a cost of $39.99 per box.
“Since kids change so quickly, we don’t want parents to have to keep the toys and have them pile up,” she said. “As their kids age out of the boxes, we take them back, sanitize them, clean them, inspect them and then drop off the next box.”
BurbleBox launched in June and has around 30 families so far.
When putting together the boxes, Bearman chooses toys made of wood, food-grade silicone or rubber – no soft or bath toys, to mitigate risks such as mildew, and no plastic. With that in mind, she searches for developmentally appropriate toys for each age group, working currently with 10-15 well-regarded U.S-based toy companies.
“We look for durable things that are going to hold up between families and be easy to clean. We look at toys that are kind of Montessori-inspired, but also very open-ended, so they can serve multiple purposes,” she said.
She researches widely published children’s milestones for each age range to ensure what’s in each box is developmentally appropriate, be it for a 5-month-old learning to sit up or a toddler gaining confidence in walking and talking.
“We source toys designed for those specific milestones, to help them develop those and practice those skills as they’re learning,” she said. She has worked with a set of pilot families to test all the toys and give feedback on what’s popular so the boxes can be adjusted for future users, and has also consulted with a pediatric occupational therapist.
Sustainability is also part of the BurbleBox mission, as the hope is that reusing toys and sharing among families rather than frequently buying new helps minimize the waste stream.
“That’s something I thought about when I was creating this; that it’s a pain to have toys piling up and have to donate them, but also, it’s not the most sustainable way to live,” she said. “It’s a lot of stuff. I was trying to find a way to accumulate less stuff, and instead of having things end up in a landfill, have them source to other families.”
Each toy also comes with an explanatory “developmental play card” that offers suggested activities. At the time of this interview, Bearman’s daughter was in the phase of the “Boop” box designed for 7- to 8-month-olds, which includes a popular object permanence toy – a wooden box with a ball and a tray that helps demonstrate that even when an object temporarily disappears from view, it still exists in the world.
“That’s really fun, and it’s great for that age, because that’s when they start looking for something, as opposed to forgetting about it,” she said.
Silicone sensory balls have been favorites for infants 3-4 months who are first learning how to reach, grasp and hold. The “Build” box, curated for the oldest group (children who are 2 to 2 1/2 years old), includes active toys, such as a hammer bench and a wooden egg shaker.
BurbleBox follows standard daycare cleaning practices and works directly with the manufacturer for each individual toy to learn the recommended cleaning processes.
“We have toy-by-toy cleaning instructions basically in a spreadsheet that we follow,” she said. In addition to wipedowns with hot, soapy water, the toys are also sprayed with hypochlorous acid, a nontoxic antiseptic that breaks down bacteria.
If families want to hang onto a box for longer than two months before swapping it, they can, she added, and if a child gets very attached to a particular toy, there is also now a purchasing option. Bearman keeps a list of requests she’s gotten from families to keep in mind for future boxes.
“We’re thinking about, for some of the earlier boxes, swapping in some marvelous … flexible, squeezy things that are fun to chew and squish,” she said.
The boxes can be picked up locally or delivered via courier for an additional $20 fee. BurbleBox has been doing pop-ups around the Bay Area, including at Fireside Books & More in Redwood City, with play areas in which families can try out some of the toys on-site.
“Families passing by can stop and play with their kids. That’s been really popular, and it’s great to get some on-the-fly research,” she said.
Boxes can also be sent as gifts, as can gift certificates, which can be redeemed whenever the family is ready.
As a mom herself, Bearman is well aware of the pressures parents can feel.
“Kids have been developing for millennia without needing specific things to teach them how to develop … Our philosophy is, we’re not telling new parents, ‘This is one more thing that you need to buy for your kid.’ But as a parent, I got a lot of value out of a small set of specific, thoughtfully chosen toys and visuals,” she said. “So we’re just trying to make that process easier for parents. I think that there’s a lot of benefit to the toy-rotation process. But we’re not trying to tell parents that you must buy this certain toy.”
Bearman’s professional background is in tech and engineering. BurbleBox is a career pivot that she’s enjoying so far, noting that her favorite part of her previous work was building products that people found helpful – something her new gig allows her to do as well, as she develops boxes and works with families to get feedback.
And in a world that seems to be increasingly screen- and AI-focused, “I found something really wholesome and rewarding about building a physical thing for children,” she said.
BurbleBox; Instagram: @tryburblebox. Upcoming pop-ups include Nov. 8 at the “Sip Shop Mama” event at Spark Social San Jose and Dec. 5 at Fireside Books & More in Redwood City.
Subscribe to The Six Fifty’s weekly newsletter for the latest event roundups, neighborhood guides and features about Silicon Valley culture and hidden gems. Send story tips to editor@thesixfifty.com.
