Maria and Graeme Ferguson, founded Small Kins to share their love of sustainable play with other families. The online toy store stocks a beautiful selection of brands from Maileg to Magna-Tiles. We caught up with Maria to chat about juggling running a business and being a parent, what it’s like working with your husband, and get her top tips on sustainable play.

What inspired you to set up Small Kins?

Small Kins has been a real passion project for us. As parents, we felt the need to seek out inspiring toys that would encourage our little ones to connect, play and learn together. In a world where our children live increasingly digital lives, we’ve seen first hand the joy that intuitive and tactile toys can bring to our family and we wanted to share these with others. I’ve been seeking out the best sustainable and design-led brands since my kids were tiny and with Graeme’s experience of growing a successful online store (candlesdirect.com) we already had the infrastructure, the know-how, and the warehouse space to build something new that was close to our hearts. Our kids (Woody, age 8 and Lowie, age 7) have been our real life guinea pigs along the way as we grow our collection of sustainable, long lasting and well made toys.

What’s the story behind the name?

I’m one of seven children so I grew up in a busy family home where toys were enjoyed, shared and passed down. Family has always been incredibly important to me and we knew we wanted the name to honour this. With ‘Kin’ meaning ‘family’ it felt like the perfect combination and luckily the domain was still available!

What’s it like working as a husband and wife team?

We’ve worked together in the past so we knew we’d manage it without killing each other! We have very different roles – Graeme is the ecom expert and deals with all operations, whilst I take care of the buying side of things. Having such distinct roles allows us to play to our strengths and give each other space to get on with our jobs!

How do you juggle family life and running a business?

It’s not always easy! I usually do a shorter day than Graeme as I pick up the kids from school at 3.30pm most days. Then I can finish any jobs in the evening once the kids are in bed.  Graeme is very busy with his other business, Candles Direct so this is my baby but his wide knowledge and expertise in ecommerce has been invaluable to growing the brand.

How important is sustainability to Small Kins?

It’s been part of our business since we went to our first trade fair in January 2020. Our founding ethos was to support brands that are committed to looking after people and our planet and this shared purpose has guided all of our buying so far. Every item that you see on Small Kins has been thoughtfully chosen by us because of the creativity, care and craft that has brought it to life. We are mindful about the products that we share and through our soon-to-launch ‘Conscious Kins’ category we promote brands that are leading the way in sustainable and ethical production.

Is there a temptation to bring all of the beautiful toys you stock home with you?

Well we do to an extent! Our kids love trying out the toys and it’s a great way to test a new brand before committing to being a stockist. My little girl, Lowie loves Maileg and her room is full of their charming collectable matchbox mice! Not only are they great for creating imaginary stories but they look so lovely on the mantelpiece. Like a lot of the toys on smallkins.com, I see these as little heirlooms that can be passed down and shared with others.

What are your favourite ways to spend time as a family?

I love getting everyone out and about and away from screens. We live just down the road from the beach so we love taking the kids out for walks by the sea. They are still at the age where they love to go to play parks so that’s always on the agenda for the weekends. We also spend a lot of time down at my family home where all the cousins get together and have fun. When we can’t go outside, we love to have a movie night and get the popcorn out.

Best bits and worst bits of parenthood?

The best bits would be seeing their personalities grow. All the funny things they think of and say. Seeing how they play together. Creating your own mini best friends. The hardest parts would be the worry of making sure you are giving them enough attention and meeting their needs each day. Also the rat race of having everything prepared for the next day to keep it all in routine. We also find bedtimes a bit of a struggle.

And finally, what are your five top tips for sustainable play?

1. Buy items that are made to last. Good quality items that can be handed down through generations.

2. Crafting. I collect a lot of recycled packaging and bits and bobs for crafting. It keeps them entertained for hours!

3. Outdoor play. Visiting play parks and going to the beach entertains our kids for hours and gets them out in the fresh air.

4. Reading books combined with role play lets their imaginations run wild!

5. Making games from everyday objects is great fun and doesn’t require you to buy anything new

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