Small Business Showcase 

I first came across Playful Little Readers lasy year, I love how they have expanded and I also have some exclusive sets of cards too. 

Here Sarah and Jenna share a bit more about their business. 

Thank you for taking part in our Small Business Showcase. 

To start off I would love to know how your business started?   

We actually started as Usborne sellers and quickly moved into play boxes incorporating the books, loose parts and our first ever set of flashcards. These were loved by our customers and we saw the potential the cards had on their own.   

How did you decide on a business name?

We chose our business name taking inspiration from books and reading inspired play. We believe our flashcards support early reading so the name carried through to our new business vision.   

What was the first thing you ever sold?  

Our first product we created and sold was the 'Seashore Playbox'. 
The playbox was a creative way for us to not only sell books – but to allow books to inspire our play. 
This led to the idea to add our own unique flashcards to compliment each monthly box. The response was overwhelming, we then explored other flashcard avenues – and this was the turning point for Playful Little Readers. 

What does a day in the life of look like for you?  

An average day will most likely look like yours. Mothering duties, household chores and of course trying to keep up with running a small business. As a business partnership we can half the duties and in doing so can hopefully make our work life balance more manageable. No day is ever the same – we spend a crazy amount of hours planning, creating, illustrating, cutting and packing products. The unseen hours are spent on branding, packaging, research, social media... 

What do you love most about your business? 

Our favourite part has to be seeing out products in play. Watching children engaging with something we have created is magical. It makes even the stressful parts so much more bearable knowing that someone, somewhere will get so much enjoyment from this product!

 

What part of your job do you like the least?  

Ordering supplies and keeping up with demand can be difficult. We are still learning so much and find ourselves short on things quite often – we are only human after all :) 

 

The Wooden Play Den Stock a range of Flashcards from Playfull Little Readings - Visit the shop here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s your favourite product from your range?  

We are torn between favourites. We absolutely love our Explorer range – they get us out and about and engage us with nature. However, we also love our seasonal mud kitchen recipe cards. Again, these aim to make us pay more attention to the changes around us. Using nature to enjoy open ended, imaginative play – enjoyed by people of all ages ;) 

 

What is your least favourite?  

This is a difficult question as we genuinely love all of our products – as do our children. If we were to choose a specific pack it would certainly be a custom pack we made last year – dogs. This was a very slow seller and I can't see us stocking them again in the near future. 

 

If you could give a mention to another UK business – which would you recommend?  

Again, another very difficult question!! 
Curiosity Corner Sensory Dough would certainly be one of our top recommendations; as we believe her product is not only produced to a great standard, but her packaging is beautiful and her content is inspiring. These are all qualities we aspire to achieve within our small business. 

 

What’s next for your business? 

Our next step will be focusing on packaging and branding. This is so far proving to be a slow process, simply because there really aren't enough hours in the day, ha!! 
We also have some plans to create a 'monthly subscription box'. This is in the distant future, and still in the early designing stages; yet very exciting!!