SQUEEZED between the boutique cafés and posh handbag shops in a Singapore shopping mall, Joey Tan is offering something very different, even radical, to the city-state’s consumers: play. Her shop, a franchise of “bricks4kids”, is selling classes for children to play with Lego bricks, and her idea is clearly taking off.Her initial outlet, the first in South-East Asia for the American franchiser, opened only in January, but already Ms Tan has opened two more and has several others in the pipeline. She has been invited to give Lego classes in schools, and has been prepping potential bricks4kids franchisees from elsewhere in the region.Ms Tan says that she had to overcome some scepticism at first. After all, she lives in the homeland of the “tiger mum”. Asking parents to pay extra for their kids to learn to play with coloured bricks flies in the face of some deeply held values. Singapore’s children, like those in Asia’s other aspirational societies, are often whisked off after school to yet more classes—in music, maths, anything traditional and serious-sounding—to keep them away from play, synonymous in their parents’ minds with idleness and failing exams.
Yet Ms Tan had a hunch that for a younger generation of parents, born in the 1980s, those prejudices in favour of piano-bashing and rote learning might be waning. She believes that these younger pussycat mums might instead appreciate their children learning the creativity, teamwork and problem-solving that, she argues, come from playing with Lego.The Danish firm that makes the coloured bricks certainly agrees with her. Lego has been enjoying extraordinary growth in Asia, much more so than in the rest of the world. Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, its chief executive, attributes this success directly to the well-documented rise of an Asian middle class (who can afford such a relatively expensive toy) coupled with a new-found willingness of these parents to let their children learn through play.All the bricks in ChinaAfter a strong 2012, Lego’s sales to Asian consumers have risen by 35% so far this year, outperforming the Asian toy market by a factor of five. Sales have grown by 70% in China, 35% in South Korea and 20% in Singapore.
The company will start building its first factory in China next year. Anything associated with Lego seems to flourish in Asia at the moment. The year-old Legoland theme park in Malaysia, just across the border with Singapore, is Asia’s first. Run by Merlin, an entertainment group which floated successfully on the London stockmarket on November 8th, it has already had 1m visitors.James Button of SmithStreet, a business consultancy in Shanghai, says Lego has found a receptive audience among some Asian governments, which agree with pussycat mums that traditional Asian education techniques do not foster the creativity and independent thinking that are increasingly needed in the modern global economy. The firm has teamed up with the Chinese government to open officially sponsored after-school Lego centres. There are now 20 of these in China, and over 100 in South Korea.The lesson for toymakers is that in the Asian market fun alone may not be enough if they are to persuade parents to buy their products.
Lego, Mr Button points out, is cleverly “straddling the line between education and play”. And that appeals to governments and mothers, as well as to children.Lego USA, a Danish manufacturer of children's toys and games has been a family owned company since its' founding by Ole Clirk Christiansen in 1932. Lego USA believes in supporting children's creativity through learning and playing. The world famous Lego toys are made through safe, ethical and environmentally friendly procedures, so when you buy Lego USA for your children, you can be sure that they are playing with safe products. In 2013, Lego USA became the most valuable toy company in the world.Lego USA offers toys and games for boys and girls from under 2 years old to over 12. From Mini Figures to Bricks to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Lord of the Rings figurines, Lego USA has toys for everyone. Whether you want to boost your child's creativity, enjoyment or learning, Lego USA has a variety of choices! Lego USA Hero Factory will inspire your children to become heroes.
Discover the architect potential in your child with Lego USA Architecture for building the skyscrapers and cities of the future. Finally, test Lego USA's most successful recent collection, Lego USA Friends. Most of Lego USA products are under $75.Buy Lego in the USA and ship to your home country with Borderlinx. You pay cheap international shipping, tax & duties upfront, which you can calculate before purchasing with our shipping cost calculator. A number of services are available through Borderlinx to make international ordering from Lego USA hassle-free, including concierge, free repacking and consolidation services. Tomica Custom (Fully printed) Dubai Police Honda Type R No.76 Tomica Custom (Fully printed) Honda Civic Type R No.76 Castrol Lego 60098 City Heavy Hual Train Lego 76052 Super Heroes Batman Classic TV series Batcave Singapore Motorshow 2017 Licensed Event Car No. 1 (Tomica) – Nissan GTR JUST TOYS BUILDING TECHNICS AND SPREES, NO POLITICAL NONSENSE
Toyspee has her humble beginnings from Singapore on 24 August 2015. While based in Singapore, we have since shipped our products to Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Italy and Germany. We hope to continue to connect to more like-minded Toy collectors from around the world. Please contact us for shipment of your orders overseas. Toyspree online toy shop was set up with the vision to bring the best values and deals for the toys to kids and adult collectors alike. We hope our online store can be a platform where all toy lovers can benefit and reply on. We strongly believe toy collecting and appreciation should be simply just joy and no political nonsense. Toyspree started our online store with Lego in August 2015. Tomica, Hotwheels and Greenlight were added to Toyspree online store in March 2016. In September 2016, Nanoblock is added as our new range of product. Toyspree are always looking to expand other interesting product range to share with our supporters. We are also open to collaborate with other toy collectors to open new toy range on Toyspree online store.