Editorial Team
Busy Box Child Sensory Kits To Keep Children Mindful And Engaged
My name is Carolyn Rahnama, and I am the founder of Busy Box Child in Los Angeles, California. Busy Box Child is a monthly sensory kit subscription company that I have started since COVID-19 began.
Why? One may ask? Because almost every parent I spoke to would complain about the amount of time their child spends online for school and on other smart devices playing games and watching a show after school.
Technology and screen time for young children
In recent years, technology use amongst young children was already at an all-time high pre-COVID. Now enter the “new normal” with online schooling, virtual playdates, and more, and it may seem like your toddlers and young children are stuck to the screen. But according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics in 2019, screen use changes the way kids’ brains are wired.
Children who have more screen time have the lower structural integrity of white matter tracts in parts of the brain that support language and other emergent literacy skills. These children also have lower scores on language and literacy measures.
Back when my children were younger, I would create little fun sensory kits in Tupperware to keep them entertained to minimize their need for screen time everywhere we went. As soon as I heard the words “Mom… I’m bored,” I would pull out a new kit from my bag for each child so they can keep busy! Mom, I’m bored almost always meant to either hand them my cell phone, fight with each other, or I need a snack.
Busy Box Child Sensory kits
As soon as I would pull out a kit for each from my bag, all their needs would magically go away! When COVID came around, with the encouragement of friends and family, I decided to make the same kits professionally and sell them. Still, I never imagined my company would be as big as it is today.
Busy Box Child Sensory kits keep children mindful and engaged. It also stimulates their senses (playdough smells amazing) and helps develop independent thinking and language skills. It helps develop fine motor skills, build science and math skills. By using skills useful for science and math in measuring, guesstimating. And also learning about cause and effect while manipulating sensory materials, and so much more!
Through sensory play, children can explore and naturally use scientific processes while playing, investigating, creating, and discovering new sensations. Sensory play is also linked to supporting early child development. It supports language development, and sorting unique materials, like soft versus hard items, supports fine-motor skill coordination and cognitive development.
Busy Box Child Sensory kits growth
Since Busy Box Child started, it has received considerable interest from parents, press from Yahoo.com News, Perez Hilton, Mom Brain Podcast, Parenting Blogs, The Megan Pormer Show on Fox, and many mom celebrities and influencers on social media.
At Busy Box Child, we don’t have gender-specific monthly subscriptions. We leave children free to choose a few themes that they like. So we can send their monthly boxes based on their few theme choices. We also try to incorporate as many multi-cultural and multi-racial figurines as possible. And figurine job roles without gender boundaries, based on supplier availability.
As a mother and a business owner, I am open to suggestions from other parents. Their feedback helps improving Busy Box Child and tailoring our products to what parents need!