Subscription boxes have a varied success rate locally. While a number of beauty and health offerings are going strong, others have had to face the reality that the logistics of getting together and sending out a physical product to thousands of subscribers monthly can be tough to manage.
One such startup is Sydney’s Our Little Foxes, which sent out monthly subscription boxes full of creative activities for kids aged up to 10 years old, shuttered earlier this year after having pivoted to focus on education.
Nevertheless, Adelaide startup My Creative Child is trying its hand in the space.
The startup has been launched out of Little Picassos, an art school born out of Adelaide. Founded by Janine Boyd, the service puts together boxes with art supplies and education packs, including lesson plans, for kids of various ages.
“Children love to be arty and to create. My Creative Child provides everything a child needs to be creative in a box, delivered right to their door. Inside each box is everything to encourage and nurture a child to create the most amazing art, and all with their own personal touch, individuality and approach,” Boyd said.
The idea came to Boyd from her experience running the art school. With Little Picassos having run for more than 10 years, it has grown to teach around 450 students a week across three studios.
“Students who move interstate or overseas have been unable to find lessons like ours so I started to create our lessons for those children so they didn’t miss out. From there, My Creative Child was developed as a one stop shop so parents can order online, at a time that suits, and up to 12 months in advance,” Boyd explained.
The startup has four key offerings.
For $45 each, My Creative Child sells ‘Art materials at home’, packs full of materials for a specific area of learning, such as watercolour or acrylic paint and canvas, while ‘Monthly art packs’, available for kids aged 3-6 and over 5, include four or five lessons to help kids create specific projects.
Also sold is ‘Art lessons in a box’, containing materials, tools, and a lesson to create one artwork and ‘Birthday party boxes’, which will see materials and instructions delivered to have kids create works according to the specified theme.
Boyd’s first steps in creating the boxes was looking at what was popular across Little Picassos and what students were asking for, and then incorporating the education side.
“Educationally as an art specialist, I know important skill milestones in creative thinking development and have included those skills throughout our programs,” she said.
“We have a great team at Little Picassos and I have been able to work with other staff to build the lesson plans, boxes and product. The fun part is sharing new materials we have sourced with the students who are always keen to test run product or ideas for us.”
The startup officially launched in late November, at the Adelaide Bowerbird markets.
As parents worry about their kids’ screentime, things like My Creative Child are an attractive alternative, while a number of studies have also looked at the importance of arts education in helping children in their wider education.
A 2006 study from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum examined the literacy skills of year 3 students who took part in a Guggenheim arts program and found that students who had participated in the program performed better in six categories of literacy and critical thinking skills, including hypothesising and reasoning, than those who had not.
“As parents or carers, the fast pace of life may not allow creativity to fit in. My Creative Child art packs allow the ability to take a moment, to stop, to centre, to create. No running around trying to find classes, teachers, materials, or time, it’s all ready and delivered to your door no matter what your location or remoteness,” Boyd explained.
“We have made everything easy; every pack contains absolutely everything a child will need, from ideas and inspiration, quality art materials, glue, paint, brushes, parent prompts to assist if you would like, as well as easy to follow guides for the child.”
A few weeks on from launch, Boyd said the startup will soon look to introduce lesson ideas, how tos for parents, and ‘art hacks’ on its website, and also explore the possibility of shipping internationally.
Image: Janine Boyd. Source: Supplied.
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