Consumer Insight - The Insights Family discusses the uptick in creative toys

An appetite for arts & crafts

Creative toys are enjoying an uptick in interest from children - and licensed and digital products increase appeal further, says Nick Richardson, CEO and founder of The Insights Family

Even with the rise of digital ecosystems and increased online access, the daily lives of preschool kids are still largely based in the offline world. The hobbies they choose, the toys they play with and the activities that take up their time tend to be physical, in-person spaces, partly due to age-appropriate restrictions and parental monitoring.

Eight of the top 10 favourite hobbies among kids aged three to five years old in the UK are offline activities, showing how this demographic can be reached via offline touchpoints.*

Looking more closely at the top hobbies among younger kids, there has been significant growth in the appetite for arts & crafts. Currently, kids aged three to five in the UK are the second biggest consumers of arts & crafts in Europe. This demographic spends an hour a day on average doing arts & crafts, showing that they invest a large proportion of their time into being creative.

Arts & crafts have many key benefits for kids. They can develop motor skills, increase dexterity, improve hand-eye coordination, boost self-esteem, encourage self-expression, help decision-making skills and promote innovation. It is no wonder that kids and parents alike are keen to encourage these hobbies. Creative toys are the eighth favourite toy type among preschoolers in the UK (18%) and 45% of parents report doing art & crafts as a family at least once a week. The continued popularity of these hobbies presents a key market for brands and companies to move into, to play a part in the development of the next generation.

Creativity and art are not simply offline interests. The growth of customisable products or personalisation in video games and advertising means that

kids are growing used “to being able to express themselves across their ecosystems. Over the past 12 months, the popularity of artist as a future career has grown by more than 35% among preschoolers, and the number of kids saying they know how to code has also grown by over 7%. As both of these interests grow, creative hobbies should be seen as the foundation for future digital engineers, designers, architects and technology experts.

There is much potential for brands to appeal to creative hobbies as they look to engage their younger audience. Developing licensed merchandise in this space can create additional touchpoints for kids to engage with their favourite IPs and drive licensing revenue. One in 10 kids aged three to five in the UK has purchased stationery, stickers or posters related to their favourite characters; more than 17% higher than the European average. This demographic is most inclined to buy stationery in relation to their favourite TV shows (20%); however film-related stationery purchases have also become increasingly favoured, growing by over 19% in the last quarter. By developing stationery products, brands can capitalise on the rising avidity towards arts & crafts, highlighting the need to keep track of the trends in this space in order to optimise licensing revenue. From an advertising perspective, TV is the favourite advertising location among three- to five-year-olds (46%) meaning that TV adverts, product placement or featured use of related toys/stationery within the programming of the most popular TV shows is likely to optimise awareness of new products and motivate purchase. Younger kids are most likely to ask their parents to buy a product upon seeing their favourite advert (39%), underlining the importance of parental purchase power. It is crucial for brands to understand their audience at a deeper level, in terms of what they enjoy, how they feel and why they choose new products or hobbies. * All statistics taken from the last six months of data collected by Kids Insights (September 2021 – March 2022).

The continued popularity of these hobbies presents a key market for brands and companies to move into, to play a part

in the development of the next generation “

The Insights Family is the global leader in kids, parents, and family market intelligence, providing real-time data on their attitudes, behaviours and consumption patterns.

Kids Insights surveys 7,780 children every week aged 3-18. Parents Insights surveys more than 3,800 parents of children between the ages of 1 and 16 every week. Both services operate in 22 countries across six continents and in total survey more than 469,040 kids and 228,800 parents a year. This means that the company interviews a new family member somewhere in the world every 45 seconds.

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