It’s bedtime and that comes with a session of brushing the teeth at the bathroom sink, but when you’re three-years-old and can’t reach the sink, it’s a problem. Not with the “Stobbi,” though, it’s a child’s stepping stool to provide the extra boost.

Abhi Kishore invented these solid wood stools to alleviate this problem. “The whole idea came when my daughter was growing up,” said Abhi Kishore of Springfield. Abhi is a parent of two daughters and co-founder of Stobbi, a new line of solid wood step stools designed as characters so kids can do everyday things independently. “It’s a companion buddy to help her do things,” he said.

He came up with the stool business with his brother and now both of them run the company.

These step stools come in three different child-friendly models: Doe the Turtle, Ray the Panda and Mei the Butterfly. With a named character for each model, Kishore has gone beyond just making another piece of furniture. They are designed to feel like a helper that goes with them from the bathroom to the kitchen and back.

He got the idea from watching his three-year-old struggle to reach the sink. “Kids light up when they do something themselves, even small things like brushing their teeth, helping in the kitchen or reaching their books,” he said. A step stool is one way to make that possible, but the options out there were plastic, fiberboard or bulky learning towers so he stayed away from those materials and went back to wood, an earthy building material. 

“We don’t want our kids to grow up in a plastic environment,” he said.

Kishore works with a company in India to manufacture the Stobbi, and is heading into his third year of production. Right now, it is only available through the website but he’s looking for more venues to give his new product some exposure. He hasn’t tried the “Shark Tank,” show for entrepreneurs but he is open to the idea.
For more information, go to https://stobbi.com