Introduction: Better Products Begin with Understanding Children
Creating a successful product or service for children takes more than a great idea. Whether you’re developing educational toys, parenting resources, enrichment programs, children’s apps, childcare services, or products for children with special needs, you need to understand the people you’re designing for—and the adults who make decisions on their behalf.
What does research tell us about children’s development, learning, health, relationships, and behavior? What challenges do parents and educators face? Which approaches are supported by evidence, and where are there still unanswered questions?
These questions matter because child-centric businesses have a unique responsibility. A product that looks appealing to adults may not be developmentally appropriate, engaging, accessible, or genuinely beneficial to children. Research can help entrepreneurs move beyond assumptions, identify meaningful unmet needs, and develop solutions that are commercially viable and grounded in children’s real-world experiences.
Fortunately, you don’t need access to an academic library or an expensive research subscription to begin. Numerous reputable organizations translate scientific findings and professional expertise into accessible articles, reports, tools, and practical guidance.
The following ten resources are organized from broad developmental and health foundations to more specialized topics, including early childhood, mental health, education, learning differences, and digital media. Together, they offer entrepreneurs a practical starting point for making better-informed business decisions. And having used all of them myself, I can attest they can be game changers!
1. Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child
Best for: Understanding the science behind child development
Website: https://developingchild.harvard.edu/
If you want to understand how children’s early experiences shape their development, Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child is an excellent place to start. The center translates scientific research into accessible resources about brain development, stress, resilience, relationships, and the environments that help children thrive.
Its resource library includes research-informed guides, videos, toolkits, and learning materials. Entrepreneurs can use these resources to understand why responsive relationships, supportive environments, and early experiences matter for children’s development.
How it can help your business: If you’re developing products for children, family services, educational resources, or tools for early childhood professionals, this resource can help you establish a strong developmental rationale. It is particularly useful when defining the problem your product addresses and explaining why your proposed approach makes sense.
Start here to build a foundational understanding of child development before narrowing your focus to a specific age group, challenge, or product category.
2. American Academy of Pediatrics: HealthyChildren.org
Best for: Pediatric health, parenting, and child safety
Website: https://www.healthychildren.org/
Powered by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), HealthyChildren.org provides parent-friendly information grounded in pediatric expertise and reviewed by AAP pediatricians. Topics include physical and emotional health, development, nutrition, sleep, behavior, safety, and family life.
For entrepreneurs, the site offers a practical window into the questions and concerns parents have throughout childhood and adolescence.
How it can help your business: If you’re developing parenting products, children’s wellness services, physical activity programs, sleep-related resources, or family education materials, HealthyChildren.org can help you understand relevant health considerations and communicate responsibly with caregivers.
It can also help you identify claims that require additional evidence or professional review. General parenting guidance, however, is not a substitute for product-specific safety testing or clinical validation.
3. Nemours KidsHealth
Best for: Accessible health and development information across ages
Website: https://kidshealth.org/
Nemours KidsHealth offers health, development, and behavior information for parents, children, and teenagers. It also provides educational resources for teachers, making it useful for entrepreneurs who need to communicate with different audiences.
One particularly helpful feature is its audience-specific approach: information can be presented differently for adults, younger children, and teens.
How it can help your business: If you create children’s educational content, health-related learning materials, family resources, or products that help children understand their bodies and well-being, KidsHealth can provide useful background and examples of age-appropriate communication.
Study how complex topics are simplified without losing their essential meaning. This is especially valuable when designing content that needs to be accurate while remaining understandable to children.
4. ZERO TO THREE
Best for: Babies, toddlers, and early relationships
Website: https://www.zerotothree.org/
ZERO TO THREE focuses on the development and well-being of children from birth through age three, including early relationships, social-emotional development, play, behavior, and caregiver support. Its resource library serves families, early childhood professionals, and advocates.
This is a particularly useful resource because the needs of infants and toddlers differ substantially from those of school-age children. Products for this age group must account for emerging abilities, sensory experiences, caregiver involvement, and the importance of safe, responsive interactions.
How it can help your business: Use ZERO TO THREE to explore age-appropriate play products, parent-child activities, early learning tools, caregiver education, and services for childcare settings. Its resources can also help you avoid designing for a broad age range when children at different developmental stages need very different experiences.
For entrepreneurs entering the early childhood market, this site can help connect developmental principles with the practical needs of parents, caregivers, and early learning professionals.
5. Child Mind Institute
Best for: Children’s mental health, behavior, and learning challenges
Website: https://childmind.org/
The Child Mind Institute combines science, education, and clinical care to support children and families experiencing mental health and learning difficulties. Its resources cover topics such as anxiety, ADHD, autism, mood disorders, executive functioning, behavior, and school-related challenges.
Entrepreneurs can learn about the experiences of children and caregivers who may be underserved by mainstream products and services.
How it can help your business: This resource is valuable when developing emotional learning tools, behavior-support resources, parent coaching services, educational products, or products intended for children experiencing mental health or learning challenges.
It can help you recognize that a behavior may have multiple causes and that children with similar diagnoses may have different needs. That insight can lead to more flexible, compassionate, and inclusive design.
If you’re exploring a specialized market, use this resource to deepen your understanding of the challenges families face before deciding which problem your product should address.
6. The Kids Mental Health Foundation
Best for: Practical mental wellness resources for children
Website: https://www.kidsmentalhealthfoundation.org/
The Kids Mental Health Foundation translates research and clinical expertise into accessible resources that adults can use to support children’s mental health and wellness. Its work draws on expertise from behavioral health professionals at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and partner institutions.
Resources address topics such as emotional well-being, coping skills, and ways parents, educators, coaches, and other adults can help children navigate everyday challenges.
How it can help your business: Entrepreneurs developing social-emotional learning programs, children’s books, emotional regulation activities, family workshops, or educator resources can use this site to explore practical approaches to children’s mental wellness.
Pay particular attention to how professional concepts are translated into language and activities that adults can use with children. This can be a useful model for making your own evidence-informed content understandable and actionable.
While the Child Mind Institute offers a broad look at mental health and learning challenges, the Kids Mental Health Foundation is especially useful for exploring practical ways to support children’s emotional well-being.
7. Information About Children (InfoAboutKids.org)
Best for: Psychology-informed guidance across child development topics
Website: https://infoaboutkids.org/
Information About Children makes research-informed information about children’s development and family life more accessible to parents, caregivers, educators, and other adults who work with children. Developed through collaboration among professional psychology organizations, it connects psychological expertise with everyday questions about children’s lives.
Its broad developmental perspective can help entrepreneurs connect research findings to practical concerns involving social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral development.
How it can help your business: Use this site to explore questions about children’s relationships, emotions, behavior, learning, and development. It can be particularly useful when developing parent education, social-emotional learning materials, family services, or products designed to address behavior and relationships.
Because it draws on psychological expertise, it can also help you identify useful concepts and terminology to investigate further in peer-reviewed literature.
Think of this resource as a bridge between understanding children’s development in general and applying psychological insights to a particular product or service.
8. Edutopia
Best for: Classroom practices, teaching, and learning
Website: https://www.edutopia.org/
Edutopia shares ideas and resources related to teaching, learning, student engagement, classroom culture, and educational innovation.
Its articles and videos often show how educational approaches are implemented in real classrooms. This practical perspective complements academic research by helping entrepreneurs understand the realities educators face.
How it can help your business: If you’re building educational games, classroom materials, teacher professional development, student engagement tools, or products intended for school adoption, Edutopia can help you investigate teaching practices and implementation challenges.
Use it to generate ideas and understand educators’ experiences, then look for original studies or stronger supporting evidence before making claims about effectiveness.
For entrepreneurs selling to schools, understanding how teachers actually work is just as important as understanding what children need. A product must be useful to students while fitting into the time, resources, and constraints of the classroom.
9. Understood
Best for: Learning differences, accessibility, and inclusive design
Website: https://www.understood.org/
Understood focuses on individuals with learning and thinking differences, including ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and other challenges that can affect learning and everyday functioning. Its resources support families, educators, and individuals through practical guidance, expert-informed content, and personal perspectives.
For entrepreneurs, this is an important reminder that children do not all process information, manage attention, communicate, or demonstrate their abilities in the same way.
How it can help your business: Explore Understood when developing learning products, educational technology, tutoring services, children’s activities, or tools intended to be accessible to a wider range of learners.
Its resources can help you identify common barriers and consider options such as clear instructions, flexible pacing, multiple ways to engage, and reduced reliance on a single skill. These ideas can improve usability for many children, not only those with diagnosed learning differences.
Even if your product isn’t specifically designed for children with disabilities or learning differences, inclusive design can help you serve a broader audience.
10. Common Sense Media
Best for: Children’s technology, digital media, and online experiences
Website: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/
Common Sense Media examines children’s relationships with media and technology, including screen use, digital well-being, entertainment, online experiences, and the effects of technology on families.
Its research section includes surveys, reports, and datasets that can help entrepreneurs understand children’s media habits and the changing digital environment.
How it can help your business: This is a particularly useful resource for developers of children’s apps, digital games, online learning platforms, media products, and parent-facing technology.
Its research can inform questions about how children use devices, what families are concerned about, and how digital products fit into everyday life. It can also help you consider whether your product supports meaningful engagement rather than simply maximizing time spent on a screen.
As digital experiences become an increasingly common part of childhood, entrepreneurs need to think carefully about age appropriateness, privacy, engagement, and children’s well-being. Common Sense Media can help inform those conversations.
Conclusion: Turn Research into Better Solutions for Children
These ten resources offer entrepreneurs a valuable starting point for understanding the science, needs, and experiences behind child-centric products and services. Together, they cover foundational development, pediatric health, early relationships, mental wellness, psychology, education, learning differences, and technology.
The logical place to begin is with broad developmental and health resources, then move toward the specialized topics most relevant to your business. You don’t need to explore every resource in depth. Start with your target audience, identify the questions you need to answer, and select the sources most relevant to your product or service.
But finding information is only the first step. The real value comes from using it to make better decisions.
As you research an idea, ask yourself three questions:
- What does the evidence tell me? Identify what is well supported, what is still uncertain, and which claims need stronger evidence.
- Whose experiences might be missing? Consider differences in age, ability, culture, family circumstances, and access to resources.
- How can I test my assumptions? Speak with parents, caregivers, educators, and qualified professionals. Where appropriate, involve children in age-appropriate research and product testing. Collect feedback and evaluate outcomes before making strong claims about your product’s impact.
One important distinction: a reputable website is a starting point, not proof that every product idea inspired by it will work. Some resources summarize research, some offer professional guidance, and others emphasize practical experiences. For high-stakes health, developmental, or educational claims, seek original peer-reviewed studies and qualified expert input.
At Daffodil Creatives, we believe successful child-centric innovation brings together research, real-world needs, thoughtful design, and meaningful outcomes. The best products and services do more than appeal to buyers. They respond to children’s developmental needs and help the adults who support them make a positive difference.
Start with a good question, follow the evidence, and let what you learn shape what you build. We are here to support you! Feel free to reach out to discuss your project. Just drop an email to me (Lilla Dale McManis) at ldmcmanis@gmail.com