Her game rules: child safe and eco-friendly
Finding words and counting numbers in Jill Gaynor's educational games are pretty simple tasks.
Producing the games is more complicated. Gaynor, a 37-year-old educator-turned-entrepreneur, demands that her board games for ages 4 and up be printed with soy ink, on recycled paper, laminated with phthalate-free material and finished with a nontoxic, water-based varnish.
"The same chemicals that are toxic for children are also harmful for the environment," said Gaynor, an avid environmentalist who boasts of the organic carpet in her West Los Angeles office. "And when harmful things are released into the environment that hurts children."
Gaynor's fledgling business, Beyond Learning, makes eco-friendly games designed for young children to familiarize themselves with basic words and counting while moving game pieces across a colorfully illustrated board.
Producing the games in environmentally friendly ways, Gaynor said, makes them good not only for children's education, but for their health.
It's also been good for business. A series of recalls last year revealed that a number of popular toys contained lead and other toxic materials. Since then, the use of safe materials in toys for young children has been a prominent concern for parents.
In September, a Detroit television station called Gaynor's game Word Chase one of the "Hot New Safe Toys" parents could trust amid the millions being recalled. With the post-recall boost to her business and being featured in popular e-mail newsletters Daily Candy and Urban Baby, Gaynor sold $70,000 worth of her two games, Word Chase and Number Hunt in 2007.
Barely a year into producing the games, Gaynor supplies about 150 retailers nationwide, including Whole Foods Market Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc.'s online store.
At Three Cheeky Monkeys, a West Los Angeles toy store, the games have been selling well as more parents ask for toys that are safe, manager Ross Berman said.
"It's really safe. It has no ink odors, and some games are just loaded with ink smell," Berman said.
"People are very conscious, especially parents buying toys for kids that young, about things being safe," said Alex Winston, owner of Hey Kookla, a gift shop in Santa Monica that sells Gaynor's games.
And as it becomes important to parents, "going green" is a trend spreading across the industry, said Adrienne Citrin, spokeswoman for the Toy Industry Assn.
