Montessori
Busy Board
8 felt pages and 30+ hands-on activities that keep little hands busy, with zero screens. Real zips, buckles and laces for flights, car rides, cafés and the 5pm rush. No batteries, no noise, nothing to switch off.
- 8 pages, 30+ activities, grows with them
- Zips shut with a carry handle, travel ready
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Free shipping, NZ & AU operated
What’s inside
- 8 detachable felt pages with 30+ activities
- Zips, buckles, clips, laces and snaps
- Shapes, colours and animal puzzles
- A–Z letters, numbers 1–10, a clock and days of the week
- Zip-shut cover with a carry handle
How to use
Start with a couple of pages at a time and add more as they master each one. Unzip the pages to share between siblings or lighten the load in the car.
Tip: keep it as a special “busy board time” toy for flights, car rides and dinner prep. Novelty keeps it exciting.
Age, safety & care
Age: designed for [AGE FROM] to 4 years. Always supervise play.
Safety: tested to [SAFETY STANDARD]. Check the board regularly for wear and remove any loose or damaged parts.
Care: spot clean with a damp cloth and mild soap, then air dry. Not machine washable.
Shipping & returns
Free shipping on every NZ and Australian order. Dispatched within [X] business days, usually arriving in [X–X] business days, with tracking emailed as soon as it’s on its way.
Covered by our 30-day happiness guarantee. Missing or damaged piece? We’ll replace it free.
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Why Bub & Bloom?
Quiet minutes, made simple.Screen-Free Calm
Holds their focus like a tablet, minus the guilt. No batteries, no noise, no meltdown when it's put away.
Travel Hero
Flights, car rides, café dinners. Zips shut with a handle, so you can grab it and go.
Real-World Skills
Zips, buckles, laces and clips. The everyday skills they're itching to master on their own.
Grows With Them
Eight pages of A–Z, numbers, telling time and puzzles. Still entertaining months from now.
Share The Pages
Pages unzip and detach, so siblings get their own and car-seat play stays light.
Made For Little Hands
Soft felt pages, chunky buckles and easy-grip zips that tiny fingers can actually work.
Small hands,
big wins
Busy hands learn by doing. Every zip, buckle and lace is a tiny challenge they get to solve on their own, and with 8 pages to work through, there's always a next step waiting.
Shop nowCurious fingers tug zips, poke shapes and flip pages. Everything is new and everything gets touched.
Buckles start clicking and straps start sticking. Play sessions stretch longer as they figure things out.
“I did it!” moments. They’re working pages on their own, and you’re getting your coffee while it’s hot.
On to the A–Z, numbers, clock and puzzle pages. New challenges ready the moment they’re ready.
Every little one learns at their own pace. Always supervise play.
Pick a topic.
See the study.
Research-backed
Talk Time
Up to 1,139 fewer adult words a day. Researchers recorded the full days of 220 Australian families and found that more toddler screen time went with fewer words from parents, fewer toddler babbles and fewer back-and-forth conversations.
Brushe et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2024. Figure based on the study’s average of about 3 hours of screen time a day.Where Bub & Bloom fits: zip it, buckle it, name it. Every page gives you something to talk about together, from colours and animals to A–Z and numbers.
Early Development
7,097 children followed from age 1. In a large Japanese study, more screen time at age 1 was associated with higher odds of communication and problem-solving delays at ages 2 and 4, with the link growing stronger as screen time went up.
Takahashi et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2023. An association, not proof that screens cause delays.Where Bub & Bloom fits: 8 pages and 30+ hands-on activities to reach for instead, with shapes, puzzles, a clock and A–Z to work through at their own pace.
Calm Down
The soothing loop. Studies of preschoolers suggest that regularly using a tablet to calm a child is linked to more trouble managing anger and frustration a year later. It runs both ways: children who find big feelings harder also get handed devices more. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s a loop.
Fitzpatrick et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2024; Radesky et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2022.Where Bub & Bloom fits: another option to reach for. Quiet, no batteries, and no screen that has to be switched off at the end.
Focus
Just 9 minutes. In a controlled experiment, 4-year-olds who watched 9 minutes of a fast-paced cartoon did worse on focus and self-control tasks straight afterwards than children who drew pictures. Kids who watched a slower educational show did just as well as the drawing group.
Lillard & Peterson, Pediatrics, 2011 (60 children). A short-term effect; pace and content matter.Where Bub & Bloom fits: slow, hands-on play that moves at their pace. One zip, one buckle, one page at a time.
Background TV
52 fewer minutes of interaction. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that for every hour a child under 2 watches TV alone, they spend about 52 fewer minutes interacting with a parent or sibling. Even TV that’s just on in the background can cut into talk and play.
American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, Media Use by Children Younger Than 2 Years, 2011.Where Bub & Bloom fits: turn the TV off and the board out. It sits happily on the floor next to you while dinner’s on.
Active Play
Sit less, play more. The World Health Organization advises that under-5s shouldn’t be restrained for more than an hour at a time, and that quiet time is best spent on hands-on activities like reading and storytelling with a caregiver rather than screens.
World Health Organization, guidelines for children under 5, 2019.Where Bub & Bloom fits: when they do need to sit, in the car seat, on a plane or at a café, little hands stay busy with real buckles, zips and laces.
Bedtime
Screens off before bed. Paediatric guidelines in Canada and New Zealand recommend avoiding screens in the lead-up to bedtime, and New Zealand’s guidelines pair less screen time with good sleep as part of a healthy day for under-5s.
Canadian Paediatric Society, 2017; Ministry of Health, Sit Less, Move More, Sleep Well, 2017.Where Bub & Bloom fits: a quiet, screen-free wind-down. Soft felt, no lights, no sounds, no batteries.
NZ Guidelines
Under 2: none. 2 to 4: under an hour. New Zealand’s Ministry of Health advises discouraging screen time for under-2s and keeping it under one hour a day for children aged 2 and over. In their words, less is best. Kiwi two-year-olds currently average about 1.5 hours a day.
Ministry of Health, Sit Less, Move More, Sleep Well, 2017; Growing Up in New Zealand / Ministry of Social Development.Where Bub & Bloom fits: a screen-free yes for the moments that usually tip you over the hour, like flights, car rides and the 5pm rush.
You’re Not Alone
Only 1 in 4. Across 63 studies and nearly 90,000 children worldwide, only about 1 in 4 under-2s and 1 in 3 two-to-five-year-olds met screen time guidelines. If you find it hard, so does almost every other family.
McArthur et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 2022 (89,163 children).Where Bub & Bloom fits: no judgement, just a second option. We’re not anti-screen, we just think little hands deserve more choices.
Most of these studies show associations, not cause and effect, and how screens are used matters. Bub & Bloom is a toy, not a treatment, and isn’t intended to diagnose, prevent or improve any developmental condition. Always supervise play.
The screen-free
swap
Side by side, you decide.
Swipe to compare →
We’re not anti-screen. Video calls with Nana and a show together have their place. Always supervise play.
FAQ
Got questions?What age is it for?
Bub & Bloom is designed for little ones from [AGE FROM] to 4 years. Younger toddlers love the zips, buckles and textures, while older kids move on to the A–Z, numbers, clock and puzzle pages, so it grows with them.
As with any toy, always supervise play.
Will my toddler actually play with it?
We hear you. Most toys get ignored after two minutes. The difference here is variety: 8 pages and 30+ activities means there’s always something new to unzip, buckle or flip to.
Our tip: keep it as a special “busy board time” toy for flights, car rides or dinner prep, rather than leaving it out all day. Novelty keeps it exciting.
Is it safe?
Safety comes first. The board is made from soft felt with stitched-on activities, and has been tested to [SAFETY STANDARD, e.g. AS/NZS ISO 8124].
Some pages include pieces that come off for puzzles and sorting. Please supervise play, check the board regularly for wear, and remove any loose or damaged parts.
What’s on the 8 pages?
Over 30 hands-on activities, including zips, buckles, clips, laces and snaps, shapes and colours, animal puzzles, A–Z letters, numbers 1–10, a clock and days of the week.
The pages unzip and detach, so you can hand over just a couple at a time or split them between siblings.
Is it good for flights and car rides?
It’s made for it. It zips shut with a carry handle, has no batteries to die mid-flight, and makes no noise, so it’s perfect for planes, car seats, cafés and waiting rooms.
Detach a few pages to keep things light on a tray table or in the car.
Will it help with speech or tantrums?
We’ll be honest with you: Bub & Bloom is a toy, not a treatment, and we can’t promise any developmental outcome.
What it does give you is a hands-on, screen-free option with plenty to talk about together, from colours and animals to letters and numbers. If you have concerns about your child’s speech or behaviour, your GP or Plunket nurse is the best place to start.
Are you anti-screen?
Not at all. Video calls with Nana and a show together on the couch have their place. Most families find screen guidelines hard to meet, and there’s zero judgement here.
We just think little hands deserve a screen-free yes for the moments you’d usually reach for the iPad.
Blue or pink?
Both colours have exactly the same 8 pages and 30+ activities. The only difference is the colour, so pick whichever your little one will love most.
Buying for two? Grab one of each in our 2-pack bundle and save.
How big is it?
Closed, it measures about [CLOSED SIZE] cm and weighs around [WEIGHT], small enough to slip into a nappy bag or carry-on. Open, it’s about [OPEN SIZE] cm.
How do I clean it?
Spot clean with a damp cloth and a little mild soap, then let it air dry. We don’t recommend machine washing, as it can loosen the stitching and fade the felt.
How long does shipping take?
Orders are dispatched within [X] business days and usually arrive within [X–X] business days across New Zealand. You’ll get a tracking link by email as soon as it’s on its way.
Shipping is free on every NZ order.
What if we don’t love it?
You’re covered by our [30]-day happiness guarantee. If it’s not right for your family, get in touch and we’ll sort out a return or refund.
If anything arrives damaged or a piece goes missing, we’ll replace it free of charge.
Still have a question? Email us at bubandbloom2018@gmail.com and a real person will get back to you within one business day.
Try Bub & Bloom risk‑free for 30 days.
Take it on the plane, to the café, out during the 5pm rush. If it’s not the right fit for your family within 30 days, we’ll refund you. No fuss, no awkward back-and-forth.
- Free NZ shipping
- Missing piece? Free replacement
- Real humans reply