To think my hobby could be turned into a small business

[CountryMummy1]

My DH thinks its a non starter but I think it might make me a little bit of money, hopefully enough to allow me to continue to be a SAHM.

My background is teaching/education and I ran a rainbow and brownie group for many years. Along the way I saw many younger siblings and children who weren't in the groups be very envious of the badges that the brownies could earn. This got me thinking and as a hobby I have produced some little activities and badges for my almost 3 YO and her friends as there is nothing like that for their for their age group. All of them absolutely love it.

At the moment I have a variety of different badges e.g. 'Crafter' 'Nature Detective' etc. To gain each badge the child has to complete 5 activities obviously with help in the 3-5 year age group. The activities are very open ended using materials easily found at home or out and about. The activities are very open ended and can be approached in many different ways. Once the 5 activities are complete the parent (child themselves) when older can submit evidence (photos, text etc.) to my website. They then receive personalised feedback and a badge to print off to stick in their little book. I have just sourced some cheap cloth badges for DDs friends as they want to put them in their T-shirts.

Obviously this could be extended in many ways - older age groups, links to University of the 1st Age, links to National Curriculum, special badges for special events (Olympics).

My DDs friend's parents love it but I realise they are probably biast (as its free for them) and they are a very small sample.

Anyone think there is any potential in this??

[CountryMummy1]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Back to the drawing board........... x

[DeWee]

I can't see this making any money.

If it was free, and someone had handed me a pack:
Dd1-would have done it, enjoyed having a sticker. But actually she liked any sit down and do sort of exercise, she'd have been just as happy with a colouring book or workbook.
Dd2-might have done it for the sticker. More likely started and decided the sticker wasn't worth it.
Ds wouldn't have done it if you'd bribed him with a whole shop full of toys.

Too many places have ideas of things you can do for free, and I can make up a badge they would have been thrilled enough with easily enough. Or i'm sure i could find one easily that was relevant using google images.

It's the sort of thing you see on Dragon's den, and they say they've had great feedback from the 100 they gave out for free, and have 500 likes on the fb page, but very few would actually pay.

[BelindaAllWorkedOut]

Run it during holidays, esp in a "drop off" environment. I'm in central London and there is precious little in the way of places I can drop my 3 young DCs at, to play. Fit For Sport, for eg, will take children from 3 years' of age, but quoted me £100 for all 3 to play for a morning. No mention of learning anything, just play.

[raltheraffe]

I think it is brilliant you have come up with a business idea but I think it would be very difficult to turn a profit with this one.
But keep coming up with ideas! I have a lot of respect for anyone who wants to start a business, it is a very tough thing to do.

[Branleuse]

i would have LAPPED that up when mime were little. Especially for PFB

just give ot a try

[lougle]

Diy.org already does this. Badges are $4 and they ship internationally.

[GreenPetal94]

fun, but this will no make you any money

[MyFirstName]

Also, (sorry if someone above has said this) the like of Rainbows/Beavers are not-for-profit - so if they cannot make money from such activity based stuff then am not sure how you could?

[Neverbuyheliumbalonz]

Hmm, I agree that lots of 3 year olds are doing this sort of thing at nursery.

I used to take my DS to a 'crafting' type class - I thought it was great because he could have fun with paints, play doh, glue, all sorts of stuff, and I didn't have to get it a out/clean it all up. But it wasn't cheap and when he started nursery I thought that since he is doing all that stuff at nursery, it was a bit pointless paying for it as well?

I quite like the idea of making a little pack with the badges and the activity ideas and then selling it.

But my first thought when you said about the parents submitting all the details, you giving personalised feedback etc was: if this made enough money to make it worthwhile, then that is a lot of work for you if you still want to be a SAHM?

[Laquitar]

I was going to say the same as others , 'no i would't pay for it'.
Then i thought that i would do it when i was a Nanny. It has been ages though and i dont know how Nannies work nowdays (internet, more classes etc) but if you insist on trying maybe target Nannies?

With your background i think you could do something better and profitable though?

[newyearsresolutionsnotforme]

Fun for free but I don't think you'd find many paying for it so you'd never make any profit or possibly never break even.

[Minisoksmakehardwork]

I honestly don't think you could make this work in this concept.

As a parent of 4 (2,2,4 and a 6yo rainbow) and a rainbow unit leader, my opinion is the age of the children you are aiming it at is very young and I don't think they'd necessarily appreciate the reward of a sew on badge for doing 5 different activities.

The parent in me asks if I'd have time/inclination to sit there and make sure everything was completed and then sent off for verification for (potentially) 3 children.

The cost of getting badges embroidered can be quite high too, so you'd be looking at getting perhaps a couple of hundred made up of each design to bring the cost of those down. And then you've got to sell that amount too.

It's possibly a goer if you look at making the packs up entirely and including the badge to be rewarded on completion as judged by parents. But...

As an ex-guider, would you be able to make your product compete with the likes of rainbows/beavers - half the appeal I am sure is someone else does all these activities? What would your price point be?

By comparison, my unit charges £30 a term and does at least 2 badges in this time (10-12 weeks). So our breakdown would be roughly £15 every 6 weeks. This includes our supervision of an hour a week, the badge, the equipment needed for every activity we do.

Then add onto that other events where there is no extra charge but a badge - thinking day for example, archery for our girls as we have really good connections. That £30 for 12 weekly sessions plus 2 additional events equates to 4 badges for the girls plus approx 20 hours supervision that parents haven't had to do themselves. All for £30.

[samithesausage]

I think you may have to approach nurseries with this one. The one my son goes to runs mini clubs such as spanish and dance which the parents pay for. If it's like a mini scouts you could run a half hour-45 minute session in nursery ewhere the kids could complete activities to win a badge.

[MrsTawdry]

In your shoes, I would contact some websites with DC activities already up and running and offer them a package of badges to reward their users with.

So for each user you could supply the necessary badges. It won't earn you a million though.

[MrsTawdry]

A website with activities to complete and actual badges being sent to homes would work OP. There are too many "virtual" rewards about and my DC don't care about those.

[Wantsunshine]

I really like the idea and my DD does something similar now if you look up Toucan boxes I think it is. They just do certificates she would prefer badges

[DaisyFlowerChain]

It's not something I would pay for either. Surely any parent can do it themselves if they really want to or just wait until a child goes to school and can take part in activities.

[redskybynight]

For me the main issue would be that to get the badges the children would need considerable support at home. And the children with considerable support at home are probably doing these sorts of things anyway.

The benefits of Rainbows/Brownies (for parents) are that someone else does things that they can't/don't want to do at home plus the whole idea of there being activities that you can do in a group that you can't do with a lone child.

[TotallySociallyInept]

Would it be possible to change it to an activity pack with badges in. Then sell locally in craft shops?

[fanjobiscuits]

Do you have a business plan?

[AngelsWithSilverWings]

I don't think anyone would pay you for this sort of thing when the National Trust offer certificates for free on their "things to do before you are 11" site. A lovely idea though.

[26Point2Miles]

Dont they all do this kind of thing at playgroups/nursery etc?

[AuntieStella]

This idea is very similar to the old I Spy books (fill in to a required level, send off, get badge).

AFAIK, they ceased trading on the badge/reward front, though I think they still sell the actual books to tick things off as you spot (aeroplanes being a good seller).

[scortja]

I think it sounds like a nice idea but I don't know how you could make it pay..

I would actually be interested - I find that at the 3ish age physical groups are more about the parents chatting than the children doing activities, and that crafting at home sometimes seems a little pointless.. Sure I could make reward/achievement badges etc but something coming in the post would be much more exciting..

Maybe its the former art student in me but I do like having a project to complete..

[Storytown]

I hate the idea of such structured things for under 5s as I think they're way better off with free play but if I was the kind of parent who wanted to do all this, what's to stop me looking at your website and pinching your ideas but not actually paying you?

If you turned professional tomorrow, would your friends pay you or would they choose a different way to entertain/educate their DC?

As others have said one attraction of brownies etc is a bit of cheap babysitting.

Also agree with the poster who said you can't "play" at running your own business. Anything that's going to be successful enough to make enough money to make a difference to the family finances is going to involve hard work and lots of hours. If you just want a bit of spending money and to work a few hours, a PT job at minimum wage would be a better bet.