Activity cards boost baby’s physical, emotional and cognitive development

When COVID-19 hit, “we knew it was time to launch and quit chasing perfection since so many new parents were now stuck at home in lockdown who needed our support.”

—Lizzy Greenburg

BY EDITH G. TOLCHIN

At the end of a long day, or even at naptime, here’s a great way to wind down with your little one. Rituals are important for babies, and Curious Baby™ Activity Cards can be enjoyable, educational and fun—for baby, as well as for parents and caregivers.

Edith G. Tolchin (EGT): What are Curious Baby cards? How did they come about?

Lizzy Greenburg (LG): Curious Baby Activity Cards are a set of developmentally focused activities that anyone can do with their baby, from birth to 12 months. We created the cards so that moms, dads, grandparents and caregivers can spend more quality time with their baby that is meaningful and stress free.

The cards are a set of more than 40 developmentally stimulating activities that you can do at home with your baby to help guide new parents on what’s important for their child’s physical, emotional and cognitive development.

As first-time parents, my husband and I were overwhelmed when we had our first child. We wanted to make sure we were setting her up for success, but we weren’t sure how to “play” together and we had a zillion other things taking up our time—such as figuring out sleep, dealing with food allergies, and so on. We looked for a product like ours but couldn’t find anything easy and simple, and we knew that so many other new parents were going through the same thing when we asked.

After many months of development, we were almost complete—and then the COVID-19 pandemic started. We knew it was time to launch and quit chasing perfection since so many new parents were now stuck at home in lockdown who needed our support. This is how Curious Baby Activity Cards were born.

EGT: Tell us about you, your family, education and background.

LG: As the founder of Curious Baby, I’ve had the opportunity to use a ton of the experience I’ve gained over the years to help bring this product to market and launch.

After attending Vanderbilt University in Nashville, I moved to the Bay Area and spent half a decade working at Google in San Francisco. I learned lead generation through digital marketing, how to launch products and prototypes quickly, and helped many small and large businesses build their brands online. I also attended night school at UCLA Berkeley to gain a certificate degree in graphic design.

With this new business, I was able to execute all the design, print and marketing materials on my own, which saved a significant amount of money. I created and designed everything that you see in our product (except the illustrations), and it helped me be able to build a business using the skills that I had acquired without needing a large support team.

I then moved back to Houston with my family and joined a remote-only startup called TaxJar, which is a software company that provides automated sales tax compliance. I helped build the company serving as the CMO for 4-plus years before stepping back in 2020 to focus on my own passion and launch this business. I gained invaluable experience from my time there on how to create a well-loved brand in the B2B space and develop a unique culture through transparency and storytelling.

EGT: How long did it take to create the perfect prototype?

LG: From idea to production, it took almost one year of research, design and development.

EGT: On your website you mention there is a medical research team. Tell us about this.

LG: To be able to validate our research and ensure that our activities were age appropriate and developmentally sound, we assembled a medical research team. This group was made up of professionals from the most important aspects of a child’s development. It includes experts like pediatricians to nurse practitioners, to physical and occupational therapists, to speech therapists, to early education curriculum designers, and even a child psychologist.

Everyone on our research team has had a meaningful impact on how our activities, milestones and content was created.

EGT: Where are you manufacturing?

LG: We manufacture our cards in the United States and have a print production facility that helps us in Minnesota.

EGT: Where are you selling the cards?

LG: The cards are for sale on our website, Amazon.com, Walmart.com and momsandmamas.com.

EGT: Do you have any additional products planned?

LG: We have plans to create a toddler version of the cards for parents of older kids.

EGT: Have you had any problems in developing the product?

LG: We haven’t had any major problems in developing this product, but we did have a typo on our first run of the product which was frustrating after so many rounds of edits. One of our Amazon customers pointed out in a review that we had misspelled “around” with “aroud,” and it was a punch to the gut. We certainly tried our best to make them perfect and hired professional editors to make sure we didn’t run into a mistake like that. Needless to say, it has been fixed in our current shipment.

EGT: What advice do you have for those who might be interested in developing a new product for babies?

LG: Keep your investment as low as you can while you’re testing your idea and market. Just because you have a brilliant idea doesn’t mean that everyone will want to buy it.

Details: curiousbabycards.com; [email protected]