Tammi Educational Hits New Niche with Home & School Series

Not being No. 1 has its advantages. So says Sanna Lukander, content director at Tammi Educational in Finland: "You can be more flexible and take more risks."

A division of book publisher Tammi, Tammi Educational is the No. 3 educational materials publisher in Finland, producing textbooks, guides and other materials for all school ages including adults. Which gives Lukander plenty of opportunity to try new things.

"In 2007, we talked to some of our textbook authors and illustrators and gave them a free hand to do whatever they wanted to create new books for kids," says Lukander. "What we ended up with was the Treeni series, which is for parents to read with their children - creative and fun ways to learn math, the alphabet, etc."

But Treeni was really just the beginning of something bigger. Lukander and her team realized that the one segment that Tammi Educational wasn't reaching was children before they start school - and parents were hungry for educational materials that they could use with their children. Just like the Treeni books.

What they came up with was Home & School - a six-part concept with a logical progression of books and extras that will be launched officially in August in Finland.

The first books in the series are for babies and toddlers up to 36 months. "They're board books, and they're designed to be read while holding your child in your arms," says Lukander. "The philosophy behind the approach is that it should be a learning experience, and the books are more inwardly focused."

The second books in the series are picture books aimed at children 3-6 years old, and they have clear pedagogical objectives with a playful twist.  The third books are activity books for children ages 3-6, Mini Treenis. "They're more like the Treeni books, helping children to learn numbers, quantities, letters and sounds in a fun way," says Lukander. The fourth books are the original Treeni workbooks, designed for children to write in. The fifth books are non-fiction, focusing on everything from physics and chemistry to math.

The final books in the series are aimed at parents. "We're talking primary level math for parents, English for parents - all the kinds of things parents need to know when their children are in their early years at school," Lukander says. "This is the kind of thing that parents really want."

The series also includes both games and a digital component. "This is one of the coolest parts of the series," says Lukander. "We are developing iPhone apps designed for kids to use with their parents anywhere they might not have the books with them." The apps use characters from the series, and there are both adult and children's voices, and a buzzing bee to show the way. "They're fun to use, and even small children are good at using an iPhone or iTouch."

Lukander stresses the importance of testing concepts. "It's paramount to do the proper testing," she says. "And working under a theme makes marketing efforts more worthwhile." She hopes that if the series succeeds in Finland as expected, it will also be marketed in other countries such as Germany and the U.K. "We hope that Home & School will fill a gap not just here in Finland, but also be a hit with parents everywhere."