Rising Stars: Meet Meghan Foster

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meghan Foster.

Meghan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
After teaching kindergarten in Nashville for almost a decade, I decided to stay home with my two young boys and start T is for TOT. It began as a business to help parents prepare their children for kindergarten in a fun, play-based, wholesome way while essentially making learning super fun for kids (which, in turn, will prepare them for a life-long love of learning). At first, everything I created was digital for parents to download, print, and use with their kids. I quickly learned parents need their lives to be easier. I now create monthly, play-based learning (and FUN) boxes for little ones (& their parents). Each month, children (ages 3-6) will get a custom box filled with learning & play-based goodies to explore and use for the entire month. So far, these boxes have been a hit- almost selling out each month. There’s a new theme each month- April is dinosaurs. Children get to open their boxes and instantly become a paleontologist with hidden clues & dinosaur activities! I geek out with these activities!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest overall struggle for my business was in the beginning. I created everything digitally for parents to use and print. After spending months and months creating and then putting it out into the world, I learned most parents need less work (we already have enough on our plates). So, I pivoted & adjusted to subscription boxes for parents to essentially open the boxes and have absolutely everything they need ready to go. Now, when you get our boxes- you can open the box and get started right away- everything is included, printed, laminated, & cut. We also include art supplies, projects, books, homemade playdough, custom playdough cutters, etc.- absolutely ready to go. Now my biggest struggle is my constant, daily battle with my 3D printers we use to create playdough cutters- but secretly I love the challenge (most days). And, I love including them in the kits, they’re one of my favorite parts.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I create monthly subscription boxes for children ages 3-6. Our boxes are play-based, learning boxes with lots of projects, activities, and games. Each month’s box is themed and includes:

a children’s book, homemade, non-toxic playdough, a custom playdough cutter, learning games, art projects, STEAM & recipe card, activities (with all the materials needed included in the boxes) and everything is available digitally as well.

I am super proud of the amount of time that goes into the research for our kits. My hope is every month, littles open their boxes with glee & excitement (which then I hope carries them off to school and life). I’m also super proud of our homemade, non-toxic playdough- which we also sell around town- I have gotten so many compliments about our playdough. I love that it doesn’t dry out like ordinary playdough and it doesn’t contain harmful ingredients for little ones.

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Listen to your audience/customers! Sometimes it’s hard to hear what they want or it’s hard to give them what they want. But it’s worth it- if everyone was doing it, they wouldn’t need it or want it. It is much easier to create digitally and sell my items, but I wouldn’t necessarily make it easier on parents. I want parents to open the boxes with smiles on their faces each month and give them these precious moments with their little ones.

Image Credits
Haley Mantlo Photography