74th Spielwarenmess Toy Fair in Nuremberg

Nuremberg, Germany – January 30, 2025 – When Edu&Kate’s kindly invited us to join them at the 74th Spielwarenmesse in Nuremberg (28 Jan – 1 Feb 2025), we knew we were in for something special. The world’s largest toy fair brings together playful minds from every corner of the globe—and this year our team had front‑row access to the latest educational innovations.

A walk through the world’s toy capital

Exploring the Messe halls opened our eyes to countless possibilities:

Montessori‑inspired furniture systems and pretend play toys that could transform our therapy spaces.
High‑quality and creative play materials from manufacturers across the globe, including Asia, the US, and of course, Germany.

While the fair is primarily geared toward wholesale toy retailers, vendors showed genuine interest in larger multi‑site orders. The networking alone was worth the trip—and we loved meeting our hosts in person.

“Edu&Kate was the most focused on therapy and education that we visited.”—Beth Kuegeler, Director of Speech Services

Spielwarenmesse 2025 at a glance

2362 exhibitors representing 71 countries
57 000 visitors over five jam‑packed days
First held in 1949, this was the 74th edition of the legendary fair

Edu&Kate’s gift: From show floor to therapy room

At the close of the fair Edu&Kate donated their display set to our organization. These beautifully crafted activity boxes have already become staples in our clinics: they’re sturdy, Montessori‑inspired, and designed with autistic learners in mind.

“Learners across a variety of ages are using these activities for a variety of reasons. Some of our older learners are using them as independent activity schedule activities to increase their ability to work for increased lengths of time. Some of our younger learners are using it to learn matching skills.”—Kate Ness, ABA Director – East

Real‑world impact in our clinics

Intrinsic motivation: Learners are drawn to the vivid images and tactile wooden pieces, often choosing the activities during free‑choice time.
New capabilities: Several learners who previously could not match non‑identical items are now successfully pairing objects to their shadow shapes.
Versatility: SLPs, OTs, and BCBAs are using the same materials to target visual discrimination, language categories, fine‑motor precision, and sustained attention.

What’s next for our learners?

Over the coming months our clinical teams will continue play‑testing Edu&Kate’s donation and sharing data‑driven feedback.

Thank you, Edu&Kate, for your generosity, and thank you to the Spielwarenmesse organisers for an unforgettable experience.