Thanks To A Direct Message, I Found This Must-Have Learning Tool
A learning board is a life-sized poster board that’s graphically organized to display subjects your child can get excited about learning in a hands-on way. It is usually made of cardboard or corrugate plastic, can be finished with paint or digitally printed.
When Little Mr. Fix It Assists With The To-Do List had almost completed the illustration process, This was around January, when I was still feeling the afterglow of gratitude for all that helped support my Kickstarter Campaign, which fully funded on Day 18 of 21 and closed with a celebratory bang on New Year’s Eve 2020. So, when I was contacted by a young lady, Niya, who found me on Instagram, I was in full creativity mode and looking forward to what was to come.
Niya’s Contact Info On Instagram and here's her Etsy shop.
Niya let me know that she had seen one of my posts, which indicated to her that I was a homeschooling toddler mom of one very busy 3-year old boy. We had that last part in common, and immediately could relate to the restlessness they were experiencing by not being able to get out the house often. Lucky for me, Niya invited me to check out her Etsy page to learn about a tool she creates to make interactive fun part of every day in her homeschool journey.
Quickly, I studied her Instagram account to learn more about what she does. I was intrigued. Niya explained that she creates custom learning boards for kids, but at first, I wasn’t sure what those were. Much to my delight, I figured it out by looking at her finished work. The confusion soon turned to elation because it occurred to me that I now had a direct connection with someone that could help me bring an innovative approach to sharing the concepts that are prominent in Little Mr. Fix It Assists With The To-Do List. What a win!
From there, I asked Niya to customize a board using elements from the illustrations that were already approved for the book. To make this easy, I provided the exact files that I wanted for the board. What I gave her were graphics of the tools that my illustrator designed for the book’s end papers. Those were pretty awesome, so if you have any version of the children’s book, know that you will see those same tools used across the brand aesthetic because they’re like one of the ancillary characters in the story [photo, landing page]
About two weeks later, Niya sent a photo of her first draft of the board. We discussed my feedback, which changed a few things, but not much. With that, she incorporated my suggestions and finalized the board. When we received it, my son was so pleased to see his name and all the vivid colors. As a marketing professional, what impressed me was how the elements from the illustrations were clear to my son, and he identified that the tools that he saw in the book’s illustrations were one in the same with what he could now touch and feel on the board. Thanks to this learning board, he had no difficulty learning the seasons and tools, and he seemed to really like the sound of Velcro unfastening in a way that I wasn’t expecting.
To receive a free version of Little Mr. Fix It’s Toolkit and other free learning resources for kids ages 3-8 years old, click here now.