Toys Consumer Insights

Trend - Brands are rolling out child-focused smartwatches with built-in GPS tracking, geofencing, SOS alerts, secure voice/text messaging, activity monitoring and preloaded educational games—delivering age-appropriate connectivity, safety and cognitive engagement without full internet access.

Insight - Modern parents juggle the need to keep kids safe and connected to themselves with the desire to limit screen time and exposure to online risks. Simultaneously, children crave independence and interactive experiences for entertainment and development. These pressures answer have led smart wearable manufacturers to create smartwatches catered for children, stimulating young minds with bite-sized educational content and offering parents' peace of mind with inbuilt safety features.

Trend - Children's toys boast screen-free designs that maintain the engaging aspects of modern technology while encouraging imagination and active play. These products combine the appeal of contemporary gadgets with traditional play patterns, offering interactive features without the drawbacks of screen time. The category spans everything from meditation devices to storytelling tools and educational toys.

Insight - Modern parents, many of whom grew up during the digital revolution, are experiencing growing anxiety about technology's impact on child development. Unlike previous generations who might have completely rejected tech for children, these parents seek a middle ground that balances digital innovation with healthy development. This has created demand for products that feel contemporary and relevant to children growing up in a tech-saturated world, while still fostering imagination, physical activity, and emotional well-being.

Trend - Self-care brands are partnering with popular cartoon properties to increase the appeal of their products with younger consumers. The collaboration also functions as advertising for the cartoon brand, leading to a mutually-beneficial partnership.

Insight - Young children are often disinterested by personal care. Certain children do not enjoy bath time, and do not yet understand the importance of brushing their teeth or washing their face. Parents of these children seek ways to make personal care more engaging and fun for their kids in order to build good habits early. One such method these parents seek out is co-branding, searching for products with branding familiar to their kids, leading to personal care brands partnering with cartoons.

Trend - A new wave of artisanal comfort objects is capturing attention online - crochet plushies that merge traditional Japanese craft with modern wellness culture. These handmade companions, ranging from whimsical animals to miniature food items, are more than just decorative pieces. While their intricate designs and tactile appeal drive viral social media content, their therapeutic benefits are creating deeper connections with a generation seeking tangible forms of comfort and mindfulness.

Insight - The surging popularity of handcrafted comfort objects reflects a deeper cultural shift toward physical items that soothe digital-age anxieties. In an era of virtual experiences and screen fatigue, consumers are gravitating toward items they can hold, touch, and display – objects that offer a bridge between aesthetic appeal and emotional wellbeing. This attraction to tactile comfort items signals an opportunity for brands to explore how physical products can be reimagined as tools for mental wellness, particularly for younger demographics seeking alternatives to purely digital solutions.

Trend - Restaurants are offering Halloween-themed meals and items with unique appeal. These items often come at discounted prices to help parents and children, while they feature items with spooky-themed designs to enhance Halloween celebrations. These meals are designed to be positive experiences for fans.

Insight - In North America, Halloween is one of children's favorite holidays due to fun decorations, costumes, and free candy. However, Halloween has evolved to be more than simply a day-of trick-or-treating celebration, with many businesses offering celebratory items as early as a month before the day itself. Consumers who enjoy Halloween celebrations gravitate toward businesses that offer such items to engage with the holiday, build excitement, and save money for their families.

Trend - Lifestyle brands are releasing soft plushies with weighted fillings to make them more huggable and cuddlable. These plushies are designed to appeal to children and to calm children with anxiety or during stressful situations. The plushies are often given familiar designs to enhance comfort.

Insight - Many new parents find difficulties in time management when it comes to balancing raising a child with a career and personal obligations. These parents continually search for tips, tricks, and solutions, such as meal prepping or AI-powered baby monitors, to challenges related to raising children. However, many of these solutions deal with tangible time-related challenges, rather than emotional ones. In order to assist parents in these areas, brands are releasing weighted calming plushies.

Trend - As discussions around the impact AI will have on young people increase, those in the toy space are finding ways to use this and other technologies in more positive ways. Allowing kids to use technology comes with a certain stigma. Undoing this negative perception is about integrating emotional development into play, enabled by tech.

Insight - After seeing the negative impacts technology had on the Millennial and older Gen Z generations, fears around how younger members of the latter will develop with AI are on the rise. This is exacerbated by the fact that many parents of young Gen Z are Millennials themselves. To this generation of parents, emotional intelligence and a sense of holistic wellness is as important as a child's ambitions or academic performance. EQ-focused tech toys are a compromise, simultaneously exposing children to new technologies while also assisting in overall development.

Trend - The growing focus on mental wellbeing in North America, has extended to kid's toys, with some brands offering interactive experiences that help distract children from challenging emotions. These wellbeing-focused toys also help teach children productive coping skills for stress and anxiety.

Insight - The last few years have put a spotlight on mental health, especially as the pandemic caused an uptick in people's feelings of anxiety and sadness globally. In North America, this coincided with the already-existing "wellness" movement, where consumers began exploring stress-reduction through both traditional and "new age" means. This shift has impacted how consumers choose to raise their kids--they're now prioritizing their children's mental health as part of their overall development.

Trend - The current 90s revival in pop culture has extended to toys that were once central in the childhoods of Millennials and Gen X. Brands are now re-releasing classic 90s toys, or using them as inspiration in new products—evoking nostalgia while still appealing to young consumers.

Insight - The Y2K revival in fashion, tv, toys and other culturally infuenced trends has appeal for a wide range of consumers--either Gen Z who view 90s and early 2000s' trends as aesthetic inspiration, or Millennials and Gen X who remember these trends from their youth. When it's effectively done, evoking nostalgia either creates emotional connections with customers, or appeals to consumers who romanticize the past.

Trend - Culinary brands are fostering more involved interactions in the home with instructional cooking content that is easy for kids to enjoy and follow along to, while having them learn a useful skill and creating engaging experiences between family members.

Insight - Many Millennial and Gen X parents are using the influence of tech on their children's lives as a way to get them involved in the various hobbies and skills that they'll develop over the years. Content that engages kids visually or in a way that aligns with their tech-based habits is a way to create more impactful learning experiences for a generation that is growing up in a digital world.