The guiding principle for Life's Building Blocks product development is to develop children's moral reasoning skills (to know what is right) and build character (to do what is right), by providing products that promote adult/child interaction in a fun, family environment.
What are the objectives of the products?
Moral Development - we want to encourage children to think about everyday moral decisions and decide the right course of action. Younger children can learn to make a moral judgment on someone else's actions (right or wrong). Older children can learn to resolve a moral dilemma by deciding right or wrong for themselves or another. By simply discussing these dilemmas with an adult, both younger and older children can significantly increase their moral awareness.
We want to help children understand the consequences of making poor decisions. We also want to help children understand why some actions are wrong regardless of the consequences. If it happened to them, how would they feel?
We have to show children the attributes of a "role model" that they can model themselves after.
Character Development - the initial focus will be on teaching children to understand the concepts (virtues) of Honesty, Persistence (tenaciousness), Fairness, Courage, Kindness and Self-Control.
In time, our focus will expand and introduce new virtues that may include Spirituality, Humility, Trustworthiness, Generosity, Respect, Forgiveness, Patience, Responsibility, Loyalty, Obedience, Compassion and Gratitude.
Children will be able to see their character virtues in the light of the ideal character. Younger children will be taught to demonstrate those virtues to an adult and we want to allow children to improve their character. Older children will be taught to recognize and embody a specific virtue when it is desirable to do the right thing.
We want children to be able to learn from their mistakes and thereby improve their character. Part of the improvement process is understanding which missing virtue may get you in trouble and focus on developing that virtue or resisting that vice.
We want children to recognize morally charged situations and opportunities to exercise virtue. Children can learn to not only do the right things, but to do them for the right reasons, thereby improving their motivations and intentions.
II) How do we make it fun?
The Process - it is the intention of Life's Building Blocks that each product is able to stand on its own from an entertainment standpoint, regardless of the educational advantages the product offers. As mentioned before, the team that has been assembled has direct experience with developing successful products for children.
The Characters - it is critical that Life's Building Blocks is able to create brand equity in the story characters. If the value of the company is to be maximized, the characters in the stories must be strong enough to warrant loyalty amongst its readers. This will create repeat business, higher customer satisfaction, and lucrative merchandising opportunities.
Given the importance of strong character development, the company has hired professional writers and artists to develop the stories and illustrations. Each of these creative resources brings direct experience with successful children's products in the past.