ToucanLearn

ToucanLearn Ltd., is a company located in Carshalton, Surrey, UK, but offering a preschool learning program for children around the world.
History
The company came about after Sarah Peters amassed a large collection of activities for her own children from 2004 onwards. Family and friends had asked for access to some of the activities, and the idea was born to create an online service making activities available to all parents. Her husband, Stuart Peters, started creating the web application in 2005, between jobs pioneering media services at BEAM.TV and then Chillibean. The company was formed in 2007 but didn't start trading until 2009 when it launched. The service quickly grew and now has several thousand members.
Learning Program
The aims of the service are to provide an educational program for parents to undertake with their preschool children (from birth to 5 years). Each registered child receives worksheets outlining activities, craft and games that challenge their capabilities. As the child grows older, so the spread of activities changes, thereby ensuring that the child is constantly challenged from a developmental perspective. All the activities fall into one of four key skills, making, moving, thinking and speaking. These relate directly to the developmental skills of fine and gross motor skills, cognitive skills and language skills. Parents undertake activities with their babies, toddlers and preschool children and can write up their experiences in a blog. They are encouraged to record milestones, pictures and other memorable events in their private blogs. The blog also accepts direct feedback on each activity to record whether the activity was too easy, just right or too difficult for the child in question. A feedback mechanism adjusts the skill scores of the child ensuring that activities always remain relevant, and allows the learning program to develop at the same rate as the child, rather than assuming all children develop at the same pace.
Business Model
ToucanLearn is a membership service offering free signup which give access to a broad selection of activities. Premium membership is available by annual subscription and offers additional features and functionality including a much broader selection of activities, the ability to store pictures in the private blogs, and an ad-free experience. The business derives additional revenue from other streams including advertising and affiliate marketing.
Etymology and Branding
The company name is derived from a pun on 'Two Can Learn' as one of the key aims of the service is to foster the relationship between parents and their children. Rather than having children play on their own, ToucanLearn activities encourage parental participation.
ToucanLearn's mascot is a toucan named Tikal. The mascot was created by animator and illustrator John Sunter. Tikal is named after the Mayan ruins at Tikal in Guatamala which the founders of ToucanLearn visited on honeymoon and where they spotted toucans.

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