Our research day at Cheam Park Infants School

Earlier this month we took another trip to our partner school – ‘Cheam Park Farm Infants School’ – to discuss toys and online behaviour. We completed 5 focus groups, speaking with a total of 40 kids aged 6 years old.  Below we touch on some top level insights from the day, if you would like to find out more about our visits, or discuss the opportunity to ask the kids questions of your own then please get in contact! Toys We know kids love toys with even the notion of talking about them evoking a sense of excitement and anticipation amongst the kids! We often hear the debate surrounding the role of traditional toys in kids’ lives today, and whether the growth of more technology driven toys is eclipsing their presence. In speaking to these 6 year olds at Cheam Infants school it was clear that there was still very much a place for the more traditional toys in their world, however, when it came to picking a favourite, tech toys came out on top. Licensed, character led products from popular films were the real winners in kid’s minds with Minions and Frozen leading the pack. The kids identified their parents and grandparents as the main purchasers of toys for them. Many kids spoke about their own role within the purchasing  process and the ‘I want’ culture sees little sign of waning with many saying if they saw something they wanted they would ask for it regardless of whether there was an occasion coming up that warranted a ‘gift’ such a birthday. There was little grasp of price amongst the kids and value for money was certainly not a consideration at this age when asking for one product over another. Digital Accessing content online was part of everyday life for these kids, however most do have parental restrictions placed on them, whether that be limited days/times that they can go online, or restricted time frames for which they are connected such as no more than 1 hour or show at a time. Kids of all ages are accessing online content on a regular basis and amongst this age group there was little distinction made between where this content was being sourced. For example many used the terminology websites and apps interchangeably with limited understanding of the differences between the two. Main drivers to going online are to watch content and play games, with the kids preferred devices being the tablet and/or laptop.  Even at this early age, and with age restrictions placed on many social networking sites, there were kids who said they communicated with their friends though social media nonetheless.