Getting back down on the rug

As a kid, I used to spend a lot of time lying on the rug. I didn’t just sit on the rug, I lay on it. Whether I was playing with cars, board games or marbles, it was where the action was. When a child plays with his or her eye at floor level, they become one with the toy. Army men become life sized and toy castles become real as the world of fantasy and reality blur together.

As we grow into adults, we tend to get up off the carpet and no longer engage in play at that wonderfully elemental level. That thought came to mind last week as I had the opportunity to spend a few days in the home of a young family with children, three and five years old. I got down on the carpet with them and played like I did those many years ago. No, it wasn’t the same. Too many years and too much reality saw to that.

It did, however, make me remember what it all once was like. As I did so, it struck me that we as an industry do not think enough at the rug level. We have become adults. 

Too much of our conversations about toys (particularly when in front of major chain buyers) center on media buys, licenses, brand equity, retail sales numbers and tracking data. There is little or no focus on whether kids will love to play with the products at the rug level.

I would love to see us as individuals and as an industry get back down on the rug. If we did that, we might find that we discover new ways to create, manufacture and sell toys.