A Room of One's Own

Ever soar on a rocket to the moon? Live in a courtly castle? Climb the tallest mountain peak? Kids these days are doing all of this and more, thanks to their imaginations and the hundreds of luxurious yet affordable play spaces and related play environment products that are reaching retail each year.

Everything from tents and tunnels (both open-ended and themed varieties) to canopies, build-it-yourself forts and themed furniture and accessories are joining the ranks of more traditional play houses, giving retailers more options than ever to cater to their customers' needs for imaginative play.

“This is a category that's a must have,” says Brian Jablon, executive vice president of Pacific Play Tents, Los Angeles. “Kids want their own space. They want to be creative, they want to be imaginative and they want to play with their friends. The reality is, kids—especially young kids—need to be stimulated, they need to use their imaginations and be as wacky and creative as possible, because it helps them later on in life.”

Pacific Play Tents offers more than 60 different play spaces for toddlers and kids up to age 8 in indoor/outdoor dome-tent and playhouse-tent sizes, as well as rugged connecting tunnels, themed tent/tunnel combinations and bed tents. New items that look to be popular with retail in the coming months, Jablon says, include the company's Club House Tent, Cottage Play House and Little Red School House, all from its line of larger (58 inches by 48 inches at 58 inches high) playhouse tents. “The idea is that they're large enough that several kids can play in the structure simultaneously. They can bring their stuff in with them, and they learn when they're in a close environment like that to interact with each other,” Jablon says.

Mark Carson, owner of the Elkhorn, Neb.-based Fat Brain Toys, an online specialty retailer and distributor, is a fan of Pacific Play Tents. Of the assortment he offers, the most popular are teepees, traditional houses and firehouses, he says.

“It really adds to [children's] ability to kind of dial in to that theme and find something of interest that spurs their imagination, and a lot of times they'll be able to combine that with other things in their play toolbox,” Carson tells Playthings.

Fat Brain also offers a selection of role-play accessories and dress-up items—such as realistic firemen's helmets—to complement some of the themed tents as well as several additional specialty play spaces like a “pretty authentic-looking” white canvas teepee by James Industries that kids can customize with paint, and a camouflaged Build-a-Fort kit from Be Amazing! Toys, which Carson calls “a little something off the beaten path that the kids really enjoy.” The retailer also stocks preschool-appropriate play space items like the Moon Rocket and Magic Castle structures from Isa Toy, which are crafted from eco-friendly recycled cardboard.

At Kazoo Toys in Denver, Pacific Play Tents outsells competitors' tents 10 to 1, according to store owner Diana Nelson. “Their colors are very vibrant, very hip…the Ladybug Tent, the lime green Butterfly Tent [are] perfect for girls; the army green [Command HQ] tent is perfect for boys. What I like is the quality of the nylon that they use,” she says. Kazoo also offers play spaces from Bazoongi Kids, which helps diversify her stock of play environments for ages 2 to 7. “There isn't much we don't have,” she says.

Portland-based Bazoongi is also finding footing in Maryland, where Jeff Franklin, owner of Be Beep - A Toy Shop, in Severna Park and Annapolis, has just begun carrying the company's soft playhouses and structures. Franklin considers his shops “full-range specialty toy stores,” so he aims to carry a selective mix of play space products at varying price points.

“It's a good kind of play,” Franklin says of the category. “Kids really enjoy having a play space that they consider their own.”

Be Beep stocks tents from both Small World Toys and Pacific Play Tents as well as play canopies, like the Enchanted Play Space do-it-yourself canopy kit from Creativity for Kids, which Franklin says is his current top seller in the category. “The craft element…it's a big part of the appeal of that particular set,” Franklin says, though he adds that gender neutral items are also very popular at his stores.

Cleveland-based Creativity for Kids' Enchanted Play Space “is a combination of creativity and imagination, but leaning more toward the imagination and pretending side of things,” says Lisa Ritchey, the arts and crafts company's public relations manager, noting that the product was introduced partly because of Creativity for Kids' interest in expanding the play space side of its business. The company also currently offers a gender-neutral play tent that's popular with boys, the space-themed My Space Place, which comes packaged with a flashlight, interchangeable space-themed lenses and glow-in-the-dark stickers; introductions of additional tent products are being considered for 2007 or 2008.

At Stanley Moore's Over the Rainbow Toys in Austin, Texas, My Space Place has become “a sleeper” hit, and often sells through even though he doesn't have room at his 3,500-square-foot store to display the item out of its packaging. “I think kids just like to have their own little world that they build...That's an enduring concept with children—to have privacy, in a way, and also something that's more manageable for them, smaller, where they can do their thing. So I think it's a very valid concept.”

Over the Rainbow's other play space offerings include tents from Small World Toys and canopies from Alex, Northvale, N.J. In particular, Alex's Dream Tent canopy has done “very well,” Moore says, adding that he expects the company's new Butterfly Tent canopy will be even more popular this year.

At FAO Schwarz, New York, high-end play spaces, play houses, kids' furniture and themed accessories from specialty European manufacturers such as P'kolino and Ducduc are de rigueur, although more affordable play space items, like the Lemonade Stand from Alex, are also popular. “We look for unique items, things that have really strong design integrity, things that are a little bit more special and unique,” says David Niggli, president.

The Warm Biscuit Bedding Company, a specialty gift catalog based in New York, has had its own success with the Alex Lemonade Stand this year. Co-owner Vicki Bodwell says the product ties in closely with her company. “I started off making bedding, but it's very vintage in style, so every toy or play item that we have is based on classic [designs]…The lemonade stand is very much in tune with that, so it was a great success in our catalog.”

In stocking other play space items, Bodwell notes that she looks for products that offer open-ended play value with few bells and whistles. “I'm still a huge believer in taking all the pillows off the couch and making a cave and throwing a blanket over it,” she says. Warm Biscuit is also a manufacturer of its own play spaces, such as handmade cloth play tents and teepees. Up next for Bodwell in this area is the Little Red Schoolhouse, which will be available later this year. “A lot of the inspiration comes from my own childhood, and one of the things I loved to do was play school…this play space alone conjures up every great image I have [of childhood],” she says.

The philosophy of hand-crafted play spaces strikes a chord with Sarah Lee, owner of Sarah's Silks, Forestville, Calif., maker of silk dress-up clothes and play canopies.

“Kids love having their own little secret place where grown-ups don't really go and they feel really free to pretend in there, because it feels safe and cozy,” Lee says.

The canopies, which can hang over a bed or from the ceiling, come in Castle, Lavender Fairy, Under Sea, rainbow-topped Rose Garden, Snowy White and Celestial versions. The castle and garden canopies are selling strongest at the moment, Lee says, noting that a number of retailers are incorporating the decorative canopies into their themed displays.

“Some of the stores that I've seen...they put one up in the store and they use it as a cooking corner or a play corner,” Lee says. “Earth Child in California does that...they have the knight one, and inside it they have little knight costumes hanging up and swords in a basket so the kids really feel like they can go in the store and play while they're in there. They have the rainbow one with a doll corner inside, little cradles in it. [Retailers] can set up little scenes in their stores, and that's very inviting.”

The appeal of a simple canopy display is not lost on Meg Brownson, whose lifestyle shop, Alfresco, in Stillwater, Minn., carries a large assortment of high-end toys and kids' room décor. “In the children's area I carry a lot of Haba,” she notes. “I have the Blossom Sky tent set up in the front window, and so I've sold quite a few of those…I think at one point I was the only person in the country that had them in stock so I had people calling me from all over.” Both the Blossom Sky Tent and the Knight's Tent—which are new this year from Haba USA, a Skaneateles, N.Y.-based division of Germany's Habermaass—are impressive enough to attract the littlest shoppers, and large enough to fit at least four of them “sitting in there, playing dolls or whatever,” Brownson says. “I have one on the floor and little girls go in there all the time—actually little boys go in there, too.

“I brought them in just because I thought they were beautiful, and when I set one up I just had a really strong reaction to them,” Brownson says. The tents are especially popular with grandparents, either for gifts or to set up in their houses as away-from-home play spaces for their grand kids.

Haba has offered play tents to retailers for “as long as we have been offering toys,” Lea Culliton, vice president of sales and marketing, tells Playthings. She says both the Blossom Sky and Knight's Tent “are selling very well” at specialty, along with Haba's smaller Lilystone Play Tent, which can double as a puppet theater or an imaginary store. All Haba's tents are indoor/outdoor, Culliton notes, adding that new items will include convertible play tent/beds.

On a grander scale, Englewood, N.J.-based Guidecraft this year has introduced Pirate and School Bus play lofts, both of which are being well received, according to Jason Fein, president. The lofts “can be used for the most direct and simple applications, you know playing pirates, playing ship, or playing school, but also [they] create fun nooks and crannies and escape places for kids to go read or do a puzzle.”

Guidecraft offers additional play lofts in tractor, fort and fire engine themes, as well as a full line of kids' play furniture and accessories, such as desks shaped like fire trucks or airplanes and oversized toy boxes shaped like trains. Moving forward, the company has plans to expand its licensed product and original designs for play spaces and vehicle lines, according to Fein. “We're going to see a dramatic, significant increase—possibly even doubling the size—of our current offerings in those areas.”

There are even exciting developments in the play space category at mass-market retail chains. For example, Toys “R” Us, for one, will partner with Cranium this fall for an expansive roll out of Mega Fort, a TRU-exclusive version of the company's new Super Fort play space building system. “It's a perfect extension of imaginative play,” says Joe Lawandus, senior marketing representative, Cranium, Seattle. “I think one of the real points of difference about this versus a traditional playhouse or tent is kids' ability to build and rebuild these structures. That makes a ton of sense for our brand, because creativity and imaginative play is core to Cranium.”

Paul Winslow, buyer for TRU's Imaginarium area, says, “We saw this and we jumped on it, but we said let's make [it] even bigger and more special because [of] the possibilities to expand geometrically as you get more pieces. You can just do so much more.”

“We have a whole range on tap for spring of 2007,” adds Lawandus, “and then our plan is to really build this out as a sustainable part of our business. This is an evergreen play pattern; it makes a ton of sense for our brand, and it's a business that we're in for the long haul.” Ideas in the works for the Super Fort line include adding features such as electronics or different themes, plus new exclusives, he says.

Another heavy hitter at mass is Playhut, which specializes in themed and licensed play environments and tents, all based on patented technology for easy setup. The City of Industry, Calif.-based company recently lined up partners to distribute new Cars and Dora products, as well an original product line called “We Smart,” all due out next spring.

“We're dedicated to creating play environments that encourage interactive, imaginative and explorative ways to play,” says Brian Zheng, president.

Of all play environments, none is more classic than the pre-fabricated playhouse, and The Step2 Company, Streetsboro, Ohio, has been making waves with the introduction of some unique designs, such as the Naturally Playful line of playhouses with the look of materials like stone, wood or adobe, says Dotti Foltz, Step2's director of marketing communications.

This year's highlights include the Front Porch Playhouse, which includes a peaked roof with skylight, doorbell, mail slot and electronic play phone; and the new Bistro Grill, an indoor-outdoor play kitchen.

The play space and play environment category still has “got a lot of strength to it,” as Fat Brain Toys' Carson puts it. “Definitely [it's] the appeal of having something to help [kids] role play, but also kids just naturally like to create their own space...to have something to retreat into and make their own.”

“[With] plays spaces, tents and things like that, [children] have to use their minds,” adds FAO's Niggli. “They have to use their creativity. They have to use their fantasy world and their imagination. So many toys are sort of preordained as to what they do, but things like [play spaces] are limitless. You can change those into many things, and it's really up to the child's imagination how far [they] can go. They become hours of play value for kids.”