About Learn Richly

Mission and Purpose

Thanks for visiting our site! We want to be your best source of ideas and product suggestions for helping your kids learn.We believe that the best way to do that is to recommend toys and games that maximize both fun and educational value.  Along with fun and learning for kids, we look for items that are appealing to adults as well, or at least not annoying. Finally, we heavily emphasize teaching STEM skills and really geek-out about all things related to science and technology, especially coding and robotics.

What Makes Learn Richly Different?

Here are the values and distinctions that you can rely on when you read or watch content on Learn Richly’s website and video channels:

Independence and Plain Language

We are 100% brand-neutral. There are no hidden agendas or slick sales staff talking to mega toy companies. We support the site through ads programs and affiliate links from big sites like Amazon and Google that anyone can sign up for and use.  This means that there’s no incentive to favor a particular item or manufacturer. So, if we review a toy or game that stinks, that’s what we write; there’s no grade inflation or protecting egos. A lot of products out there don’t ever get reviewed on Learn Richly because it’s not worth our time when there are so many great other toys & games that we want to play with instead. This site is a labor of love and showcases our passion for learning, so we’ll always hold true to these priorities.

Focus on Skills

The outcome of learning has to be an increase in skills. Head knowledge is great, but we focus on practical application and tell you exactly which skill areas a particular toy helps develop. This is so ingrained in the thinking of our writers that we came up with a silly phrase, Rich Skills, to refer to the key areas we focus on when we seek out toys and games to review. If a product is otherwise fantastic–but doesn’t help you develop skills–we skip it.

Age Appropriate and Kid-Friendly

All of the content you’ll find on our site is kid-friendly and safe to read or watch. We have kids from our house and the neighborhood participating in the reviews, so we make double-sure that the content is both free from any objectionable or negative material and will challenge kids to learn new vocabulary words, concepts, and ideas. Most of our written content is aimed at decision makers who will buy the toys (parents, teachers, gift givers), but most of our video content is aimed at kids and the videos are done by kids.

To verify that a product’s age recommendation actually works well for kids, we have a wide age range of kid-testers who play with and rate each product. Many of the toys we’ve used in our house for years and our kids play with them every week, so it’s difficult to overstate how much thought and experience goes into each article and video we post.

Deep Analysis

You’ll quickly see by the length of each article that we take the time to dig down deep into the core of each product. Our kids actually play with and use the toys and games we write about. Using a product management framework, we then show what’s working well and what “needs work”. Every article gets hours, sometimes days, of careful thought and precise editing so that you can trust the accuracy and thought process behind each word.

Unique Game Scoring Criteria

Manufacturers and traditional toy review magazines focus on age and gender as if those were the only criteria that matter. We focus instead on fun and skills. Then, we work backward to specify which ages will get the maximum benefit from a particular feature. Criteria we invented, such as Complete Insanity and the CandyChess strategy score, are examples of the unique ways we help you find exactly the right products for your classroom and family.

We Prefer Tangible Over Virtual

This isn’t the site to find the latest apps or TV series. We prefer on hands-on activities that force kids to get away from the screen and spend time building, thinking, and creating. When a product does require a tablet, we make sure that there’s a tangible component that allows kids to interact with physical objects and manipulatives.

Searchable and Browseable

We want to grow this site to showcase hundreds or thousands of products. Therefore, we’ve designed it from the beginning to be easily searched and browsed. You’ll be able to target precisely the best product for your specific criteria and child’s interest.