‘Big Little Feelings’ Experts Launch New Fisher-Price Toys
Aptly known as the toddler experts within just about every mom group in the country, child therapist Deena Margolin, LMFT, and Kristin Gallant—the duo behind Big Little Feelings (BLF)—are two of the most trusted parenting coaches around. Since 2020, they have been offering up unmatched and unfiltered advice to millions of caregivers on the developmental needs of young children to help make navigating life with little ones a lot easier.
But now, Margolin and Gallant are officially expanding their fan base by going straight to the source: toddlers. In a new partnership with Fisher-Price, BLF just released its first-ever line of products designed for both children and parents.
The solution-based play kits aim to help families power through a few of the trickiest toddler milestones together. Parents spoke with Margolin and Gallant to get the exclusive details on their new venture to change the toddler game through play.
All About the New Fisher-Price x Big Little Feelings Collection
Developed by toy experts with insights from real moms, the Fisher-Price x Big Little Feelings collection features four different play kits curated to help kids ages 18 months to 3 years learn new developmental skills essential for bedtime, potty training, calming down, or sharing.
For toddlers, each kit features an interactive toy and a custom board book featuring fun characters navigating a particular scenario. While the book may need to be read together around naptime, the toys are purposefully designed to be fun (and effective) for kids to use on their own. Think buttons toddlers can press to play prompts on how to share with friends, and even ones that recite a step-by-step bedtime routine for kids to follow.
“The reason why we teamed up with Fisher-Price and loved working with them is because we wanted to make the toy itself interactive so that it can actively teach just like a parent would,” Gallant says. “This way, parents can get involved, yet they can also know that kids will be learning something great through independent play, too.”
And speaking of parents, each kit also includes a customized 5- to 10-minute mini-course on the topic at hand, inspired by the brand’s popular in-depth parenting courses.
“The mini-courses are completely customized for each play kit and super comprehensive,” Margolin says. “After those 5 to 10 minutes, you will walk away knowing how to solve the problem of sharing, potty training, bedtime battles, and big feelings and tantrums.”
Here’s a closer look inside each new Fisher-Price x Big Little Feelings play kit.
Fisher-Price® Big Little Feelings® Potty Training Kit (Ages 18+ months)
Fisher-Price® Big Little Feelings® Potty Training Kit.
Photo:
Mattel
Everything you need to get started on this major milestone, including a toddler training toilet, board book, plush toy with a matching mini pretend potty, fidget popper toy, and mini-course with strategies to prepare parents for the (wild) adventure that is potty training.
Fisher-Price® Big Little Feelings® Sharing Kit (Ages 3+ years)
Two children playing with the Fisher-Price® Big Little Feelings® Sharing Kit.
Photo:
Mattel
To introduce new social-emotional skills, this set includes a pretend playset featuring an ice cream bucket with 15 play pieces, plus an electronic monster toy, board book, and mini-course with tips for teaching the importance of sharing and kindness for parents.
Fisher-Price® Big Little Feelings® Calm Down Kit (Ages 2+ years)
Father and daughter play with the Fisher-Price® Big Little Feelings® Calm Down Kit.
Photo:
Mattel
To help toddlers navigate big emotions, this play kit includes two toys, a board book, and access to a mini-course with strategies on handling tantrums in real-time for parents.
Fisher-Price® Big Little Feelings® Bedtime Routine Kit (Ages 18+ months)
Father and son read a ‘The Bedtime Book,” part of the Fisher-Price® Big Little Feelings® Bedtime Routine Kit.
Photo:
Mattel
This set includes an electronic house playset, monster figure, custom board book, and a mini-course with smart sleep tips to help parents and kids struggling with bedtime.
The play kits range in price from $32.99 to $53.99, and the entire Fisher-Price x Big Little Feelings collection is now available at Target and on Amazon.
How BLF Is Helping Parents Transform Toddler Behavior Through Play
It’s not groundbreaking news that different types of play can help kids learn cognitive, physical, and social-emotional skills. In fact, child therapists have been using play to help kids work through tough toddler milestones inside their offices for decades, Margolin explains.
“What we’re doing with these play kits is leveraging what we know about neuroscience, which is when you practice something, you’re actually building new neural pathways to learn that action,” Margolin says. “Play is a game changer for changing behaviors with kids.”
But now, Margolin, a mom of two, and Gallant, a mom of three, are aiming to do something truly groundbreaking: making this expert method of teaching toddlers behaviors more accessible for parents because they know firsthand just how much caregivers could use the support.
“We all know that the best way that kids can learn better behavior is through play, but never before has it come into the home,” Gallant says. “This is the only play kit that is designed to challenge those tough behaviors and transform them overnight through play and through a child’s language. There’s nothing like it, and that is what we’re really, really excited about.”
