Our Business Partners
In 1976 Phyllis Brody and Evelyn Greenwald, the founders of Creativity for Kids, had a dream that their unique concept of enriching, open-ended creative activities would inspire children all around the world. With hard work, a dedicated mission and respected friendships along the way, their dream became a reality. They met in 1974 as volunteers in their children’s elementary school in Cleveland Height, Ohio where they brought creative programs into the classroom. They were struck by the total involvement and enthusiasm of the children. Phyllis and Evelyn realised that when children were given simple interesting materials along with opportunities to make choices, something magical occurred. They decided to package the magic and make it available to children everywhere.
Today the Creativity for Kids Brand has grown into a global manufacturing and distribution business reaching children in more than 35 countries. Our headquarters in Valley View, Ohio located just 20 minutes South East of Downtown Cleveland, remains true to its original roots. Our family (A.K.A. employees) continues to grow and currently consists of 70 members in the US, each contributing their own unique spirit to the brand.
True to Phyllis and Evelyn’s original dream that launched Creativity for Kids and the mission that guides us, we look forward to the future of enriching the lives of children everywhere with fun and constructive experiences that stimulate and encourage their natural creativity.
Founded in 1961 by Emile Veron, Majorette became the first French manufacturer of miniature cars. Since then, the company has produced a significant number of licensed vehicles, focusing especially in everyday cars, French and European models in particular.
By the early 1970’s Majorette established a reputation of making detailed, heavy cars of good quality, and incorporating features like opening doors and hoods, translucent plastic parts, and a sprung suspension system. In contrast to today, mid 1970 Majorette cars were superior models to Norev Minijet cars, as demonstrated by the Citroen CX models from both firms – the paint finish on the Majorette is more consistent.
Entering the 21st century, batches of better castings have been introduced, as well as an image facelift that includes a modified logo, and a toning down of aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s, in touch with the automobile industry’s trend of using deep, metallic paints.
Nowadays, Majorette is under new ownership, having been acquired by a French company MI29 in 2008. The distribution of Majorette via major retailers has been limited mainly to Europe, South America and Asia. Majorette has played a significant role in the development of the die-cast car market in Australia over the past 35 years and continues to increase in sales every year in this market.
2009 brings to market a new and exciting range of licensed vehicles that include the highly successful “Marvel Super Heroes” franchise that is guaranteed to increase awareness to kids that collect die-cast vehicles and also increase sales through retailers that stock the brand.
Poof-Slinky, Inc is a leading manufacturer of basic, classic toys including the classic Slinky spring toy and various foam balls, airplanes, and rockets. They also produce Slinky Science Educational and Scientific toys, as well as the Ideal line of Tabletop Games.
Poof-Slinky operates offices and manufacturing facilities in Plymouth, Michigan, and Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
The origins of Poof-Slinky go back to the invention of the Slinky in the mid 1940’s by Richard James, a Naval engineer working for the US war effort. His inspiration for the toy came in 1943 when he saw a torsion spring - a spring used to cushion instruments on Naval ships - fall from a shelf and then "walk" down a stack of books. Struck by its potential for use as a child’s toy, he began experimenting with different formulations of metal until he had perfected a rolled-steel spring that could “walk” down a flight of stairs.
A total of 300 million Slinkys have been sold since its introduction in 1945 at Gimbels department store.
With roots going back over 60 years, Poof-Slinky Inc has established a solid niche in the toy marketplace. Its production of the classic Slinky, as well as a variety of foam toys, games and educational products, provides a proven product line generating steady sales in stores worldwide.
For many French, the country’s Jura region had long been synonymous for its two most important products: wood and toys. It was in this part of France that Smoby commenced manufacturing pipes and wooden household items in 1937 and by 1983 Smoby was listed on the Lyon stock market selling a full range of toys under the Smoby brand.
The 1990’s were to mark a new period for expansion for Smoby. The company set itself an ambitious strategic target: that of becoming one of the top five toy makers in Europe by the end of the decade. As part of that strategy, Smoby decided to pursue growth through external expansion, starting with the acquisition of fellow Superjouet partner Lardy in 1993. The year 1994 saw the next piece of the Smoby puzzle come into place when the company acquired Ecoiffier, a toy maker specialising in educational, creative, and construction toys while at the same time doing a strong business in the low-end toy segment. Like Lardy and Smoby, Ecoiffier had its roots in the Jura region and had risen to become one of France’s toy leaders.
Smoby’s own product range enabled it to cover the younger children’s market. In 1996 the company took control of Monneret a manufacturer of plastic toys using a blow-molding press in the manufacturing process. The addition of Monneret gave Smoby a link into the older children’s segment while forcing the company to restructure its own operations as it worked to restore Monneret back to profitability. In 1998 Smoby acquired Pico toys of Spain which now gave them the opportunity to sell large tricycles and scooters. By the end of the 1990’s Smoby was the largest toy supplier in France and had subsidiaries globally deriving more than 50% of revenue outside of France. Over the next five years Smoby acquired Majorette, Estella from Spain and their major French toy competitor - Berchet.
By 2002 Smoby had 18 subsidiaries globally and sales approaching 600 million Euros. At the commencement of 2008 an agreement was put in place whereby Simba-Dickie of Germany acquired the Smoby Company. Today, the brand lives on and 2009 will be an exciting time for the Smoby Company and the thousands of people that work with Simba-Dickie globally.
The Learning Journey International
For fourteen years The Learning Journey has been designing and manufacturing an exclusive line of award-winning children's interactive educational products. All products at The Learning Journey encourage learning and develop confidence as they enhance a child's potential. All products build on the skills necessary for children to be prepared for school and beyond.
Originally established in 1995, The Learning Journey has now expanded into numerous international markets with products in multiple languages, including a large range of bilingual products. As The Learning Journey manufactures and distributes its own exclusive product line, our products offer excellent value for money while at the same time offering high educational value.
With The Learning Journey's complete range of interactive products, children have fun while learning, and parents and educators know they have the right quality educational products for their children. At The Learning Journey we...
- Incorporate the latest educational research in the development of our products
- Support the National Curriculum
- Offer great values at affordable prices
- Teach a comprehensive range of skill sets introduced to children at the appropriate age in their early lives
- Offer an exciting award winning product line in four fun categories
The Learning Journey has one mission - To provide an opportunity to offer every parent affordable, high quality educational materials to ensure a successful start in school for their children.
University Games (USA)
University Games (Europe)
University Games (UK)
Founded on April 1st 1985 by Bob Moog and Cris Lehman, University Games have developed and manufactured over 200 games in the past 23 years.
Bob and Cris loved playing games with their families, and grew up thinking that fun and learning were a part of everyday life. As adults, they recognized a developing niche in social interaction and learning games for adults and children, and that is how University Games began.
The company philosophy has always been to offer games that encourage social interaction and imagination through gameplay, with learning sprinkled in to season the game. The first product released was Murder Mystery Party, which generated $385,000 in 1985. In 1987, Bob co-invented 20 Questions, which (like the Murder Mystery Party series), has been a mainstay of the University Games line and gave University Games a strong position in the board game market.
In 1991, University Games created the Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? board game, which was based on the popular children's television show. Ever since, University Games has been creating educational board games designed so that players won't notice how much they are learning! University Games has an in-house product development team that has made it the leading original game producer in the industry. With games like Kids on Stage, Totally Gross, Brain Quest and the Eric Carle Learning System, it is no wonder adults and children have come to expect great educational and entertaining products from University Games.
By the end of the 1990s, University Games had successfully expanded to markets outside the United States. Now in over 28 countries, the company has become a major player in the international game industry through increased distribution, better marketing, experienced staff and strategic acquisitions including Great Explorations, Raintree Puzzles and Games, Topline Toys, Colorforms, BePuzzled and JP Kids. Today, University Games distributes more products in more outlets and more markets than any other game company. The company now has five divisions--University Games (board games), Great Explorations (science and learning/novelties/Glow-in-the-Dark products), BePuzzled (puzzles), Colorforms (vinyl stick-on play sets, board games/travel, floor puzzles), and Spinner Books (books that you can read and play).
University Games constantly seeks to keep products contemporary through new product development and building on the licenses we carry to keep them new and exciting. Popular licenses currently available include The World of Eric Carle - Dora the Explorer - Go, Diego, Go! - Fancy Nancy -Yo Gabba Gabba! - The 39 Clues - Five Little Monkeys – LEGO – and Madagascar.
In 1995, 1996 and in 1999 University Games was named one of the top 150 fastest growing companies by the San Francisco Business Times, and in 1996 was named one of the fastest growing private companies in America by Time Inc Magazine. Since its early years through its recent months, University Games has won numerous toy awards from Parent's Choice, Family Fun Magazine, Child Magazine, Parenting Magazine and Dr. Toy to name a few. Today we aim to supply Learning and Educational puzzle and game systems to our retailers around the world as well as incorporating exciting brands and licenses to the retail market.
ZOOB is an award-winning building set with a difference—the pieces move after you put them together. So you can play with your creations, instead of just looking at them. Although we provide instructions and suggestions for models to build, we think the best part of playing with ZOOB is exploring, inventing, and discovering how you can build what you want to build.
ZOOB pieces snap, click and pop together 20 different ways, so there’s no limit to what kids can build. And because ZOOB pieces can move, kids can play with their creations. ZOOB is great for boys and girls, and its open-minded building encourages kids to learn, explore, and create using the most important tool of all: their imagination.
ZOOB is an acronym for Zoology, Ontology (the branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being), Ontogeny (the development of an individual organism, usually from a simple form to a more complex form), and Botany.
