Meet Our Founder
Sweetpea Toys has moved to Lynden, WA
My wife Joanna and I, along with our team's families here believe in selectively choosing healthy developmental toys and activities for young children.
Not long after founding Sweetpea Toys, Regina suffered health challenges and I wanted to carry on what she started.
The team at Chess House is already placing chess sets in every home to keep young minds active.
Bringing Sweetpea Toys on board only helps expand these values beyond chess and into beneficial toys and activities for children.
To your family from ours,
Raphael & Joanna Neff
P.S. To honor what was begun by Regina, in her words, she shares:
The way a child's mind develops is old-school
I'm so glad you found us. I'm Regina, founder of Sweetpea Toys. The mother of 3 children and a teacher for 25 years, I worked with preschool, elementary and middle school age groups in both the U.S. and the U.K. My favorite Education role was working as an IT Coordinator and Teacher at Middle School level.
Through this experience, I became a crusader that children get tech exposure in the right amount, at the right age, in the right dose. We live in a digital age, and I have a healthy respect for computers, programming, and our fast-changing world. But I also understand the neurological development of the brain.
It's important for adults to differentiate between entertainment and growth. Console gaming and educational iPad apps are entertainment, providing limited growth. In the first two years of life, your child's cranial neurology is developing. Passive screen time changes our brain waves from active to inactive. Punching colors or letters on an iPad is not going to create programmers of tomorrow -- quite the contrary.
Young children need hands-on manipulatives to build attention span and a critical, creative, thinking process. Physical handling helps construct neurological connections between the left and right brain. Physical, social and hands-on play is key through Kindergarten. Even in Elementary School, it's important to consider that every moment in front of a screen or gaming console is learning time away from activities that build intellect and social EQ.
As a former educator, I understand that no matter your child's gifts or learning challenges, conscious parenting in a thoughtfully rich home environment will give them a dramatic head-start. I encourage you to create a home that fosters growth, development, security, and joy.
Join us for a new kind of store -- one that has already thought through the value of developmental materials before we present them to you. Join us in our mission to build the best future we can for every child we can reach.
Regina Cockerill
M. Ed., Univ of Maryland