Last year, Louis McKenzie found himself facing a situation that many parents were familiar with when his almost 4-year-old daughter, Zoe, became increasingly interested in his iPhone.
"When we started to be more tolerant of using our phones," he said at his home in dorard --des-Ormeaux.
"A few weeks later, we found our daughter addicted to mobile phones 100 of the time. It was a wake-up call.
"It's also the beginning of McKenzie's business ideas with his pharmacist's wife, who have started brainstorming activities that will allow their daughter and two childrenyear-
Compared to staring blankly at the screen, the old son thinks and does things.
McKenzie has launched KoloKidz, a monthly event box that provides crafts, games and toys for children aged three to six.
Parents in Canada and the United StatesS.
You can order a single box in French or English online, or you can register to receive it every month.
The first batch of 40 boxes was shipped last week and McKenzie was on standby to meet the demand for the shipment date for the second month of August. 20.
Each month's activity revolves around a theme.
The theme of August is animals.
"In the first box, for example, there is a game where you have 24 tokens with different animals," McKenzie said . ".
"The back is divided into six colors and you have a colored mold.
You roll the dice, one color appears and the child has to take a token, mimic the animal above and try to get another person to guess what it is.
MacKenzie realized these three. to-
The age range of 6 means a variety of ways to get involved in games and activities, which he has taken into account.
For example, there is another way to play the token game.
He said: "It was originally designed for young children, but we already have eight --year-
The children played with their brothers and sisters and had a good time.
"The second way to play is that they each have six cards instead of putting all the tokens in front of the player.
They still roll the dice and have to guess that they will get a card if they guess;
The first person to get all the cards won.
So it's a competitive and more social aspect.
"The other elements contained in the box this month are a snake bracelet that children can make themselves with beads and duct cleaners;
A game in which 16 animals must match four habitats; paper-bag puppets;
The monthly KoloMag magazine, which includes pages of color, numbers and alphabet, and a story about mice and elephants, comes with finger puppets and comprehension quizzes.
Future themes include space, water, nature and dinosaurs.
"I found that I was born with the talent to come up with cool spots," McKenzie said . ".
"When there is a family party where all the people sit together and talk about finance, I'm usually the one downstairs doing stupid things with the kids.
Having a child has changed me a lot.
I like to be with them and do all these things.
McKenzie studied finance and operations management in HEC, Montreal, and then started a printing company with his cousin.
He continued to travel to Carrefour's flagship store of sports experts in Laval, where he served as general manager, overseeing the expansion of the store within three months
A year before deciding to give up everything and start KoloKidz.
He got a lot of help though. from his wife;
Consultant for day care education; an illustrator; 12 beta-
The tester he used to test the activity;
And a niece on social media.
The current launch is-man operation.
Mackenzie funded the project himself.
Low spending gives him room to avoid the crowd --
Funding activities or external supporters.
The biggest cost so far is the laser cutting machine.
Most of the surgeries involved McKenzie staying up late at work in the basement garage, where he even installed mattresses so that when he finished his day's work, he didn't have to bother his family.
He was very calm when he was ready to launch the first box recently.
"I feel good," he said . "
"If you asked me a month ago, I was nervous.
Now, I look forward to getting feedback from everyone.
I am very confident in the product and look forward to people talking about it and sending me photos of their children doing activities.
The boxes are all ready so I'm not nervous.
The box costs $21. 99 to $29.
99, depending on the order.