When Jeff Freeland Nelson turned eight years old, his parents gave him a cardboard box filled with tape, string, and wire. “I thought it was the best present ever,” he says. As a young child, he was always making toys out of odds and ends.
Nelson grew up to build a resume that includes theater and public policy experience. But he always thought, "Why doesn't someone make a business out of this?" he says, meaning a box of bits that would spur children's creativity.
In 2012, he acted on that impulse and launched the Saint Paul-based toy company,
Play from Scratch. Right away, the toy company found success with several items, including the World Famous Box of Boxes, Enormous Tube of Tubes, and One Giant Box, which are sold at various local retail shops. More recently, the company introduced YOXO, a kit containing cardboard pieces that come in Y, O, and X shapes.
YOXO can be used to piece together household items -- such as paper towel tubes, cereal boxes, and silverware -- to create one-of-a-kind toys, company materials state. YOXO has been described as an “eco-friendly alternative to LEGO,” according to company materials.
Nelson has brought home prototypes of toys for his children, who are two and five years old, to play with. “I didn’t tell them what to do. Almost immediately, they were making things,” including toys he’d never thought of, he says.
Nelson has been getting plenty of attention for his company. He even made an appearance on
NBC’s “
Today” show earlier this month. “We can’t make them fast enough,” he says of the toys. He's also trying “to figure out what to do next and how to make sure as many kids have access to the products as is possible."
Nelson hopes the toy line helps children to grow up to be creative problem-solvers. “Everyday I’m focused on that dream,” he says.
In some ways, he's leading by example with toys that are made out of environmentally friendly materials.
As he was formulating the concept for Play from Scratch, Nelson's wife, Alisa Blackwood, suggested making everything as sustainable as possible, he says. That value has shaped the toys in a big way. “Not only can you create a toy that’s fun and awesome, but it doesn’t have to be an eco disaster,” he says. “You can make durable toys out of recycled wood pulp” that won’t end up in a landfill.
Plus, almost everything that goes into manufacturing the toys is locally sourced, he says.
Source: Jeff Freeland Nelson
Writer: Anna Pratt