Local Mom Invents Cleanup Toy

One local mom found a way to make toy cleanup easier and more fun, not just for herself, but for parents across the country.

Now, Wyndmoor inventor Amy Bradley will be showing her product—The Toydozer—in a public setting for the first time at Sunday’s Chestnut Hill Home and Garden Festival.

Like many inventors, Bradley started out with a problem that needed solving.

“My son is eight years old now, and starting at the age of two or three or four, after he had been playing with little toys, like safari animals, or army men, and now Legos, I would be cleaning them up and it was taking forever,” Bradley said.

“Everyone hates the cleanup, including me, so I was starting to come up with ways of making it faster.”

The earliest stage of the Toydozer was a cut-up shoebox. When her son started using the bulldozer-like creation, and actually having fun while cleaning up after himself, Bradley realized she was on to something. So Bradley dreamed up a professional,  colorful contraption that scoops up piles of toys at a time, instead of handfuls.

After going through a patent lawyer, an engineer, many prototypes, plastics companies and manufacturers, Bradley finally had a product that she was happy with, a product that is now available for purchase.

“People are really taken with these ‘mom-preneurs’, and now I know why. When someone says you should turn that into a real product, well, it’s an incredible amount of work, but an Incredible learning experience.”

Now the Toydozer will be making its first large-scale appearance at the Chestnut Hill Come and Garden Festival May 6 in front of Threadwell, 8617 Germantown Ave., which is also the only brick and mortar store carrying the toy.

Bradley will be there to demonstrate her invention, and will be selling it at a discount, for $12. (The retail price is $18.99.)

For more information on the Toydozer, visit the website for the toy, or stop by Bradley’s booth at Sunday’s Home and Garden Festival on Germantown Avenue.