Lullaland maps out path to baby sensory program growth Company seeks franchisees amid ‘tremendous’ demand By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 6:00 AM CDT Thursday, Apr. 25, 2024

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Crocheted Nemo-looking fish hat? On. Crawling skills? Enabled.

Jind Dhaliwal moved with purpose across a blue blanket littered with turtle stuffed animals, faux shells and clapper toys.

The 15-month-old joined 13 other babies in their latest Lullaland session. The participating children didn’t realize how hard it can be to join these sensory classes — or that, considering demand, the Winnipeg company plans to stretch beyond its Manitoba infancy.

“We’ve seen such tremendous growth,” said Denise Turanli, Lullaland’s co-founder. “We just want to keep that growth going.”

She and business partner Fran Hiebert announced Wednesday they’re opening the door to franchisees.

Over the next few years, they hope to see Lullaland’s baby sensory classes happening across Canada. The sessions include songs, puppets, theatre, parachute games and toy time to stimulate young ones.

Brooke Pritchard is among Lullaland’s loyal following. She’s brought her one-year-old daughter Payton to classes for nine months.

Payton can say dog, fish and bird via sign language because of actions learned at Lullaland, Pritchard said. “I talk to a lot of my mom friends in Alberta, and they say, ‘I wish we had something like that out here.’”

It’s a sentiment Turanli and Hiebert have also heard. They’ve been building their business since 2019, and believe its model is replicable in other cities.

Currently, Lullaland operates in nine locations across Winnipeg and East St. Paul. Five-hundred families attend weekly classes.

At one point, Lullaland was just a passion project, Hiebert explained.

She and Turanli met while working as account executives in Coca-Cola’s Winnipeg office. They became fast friends and stayed in touch when Hiebert moved home to the United Kingdom.

One fateful day in 2017, both women learned they were pregnant. “It was quite the phone call,” Turanli said with a laugh, recalling the two exchanging the news.

The friends gave birth a day apart in 2018. Later that year, Turanli flew to the United Kingdom with her son to visit.

She’d heard a lot about the baby classes Hiebert was attending.

The duo tried baby classes together and discussed what they did and didn’t like. Much of the sessions seemed repetitive.

“We wanted to really design something that was suitable and fun for the grown-up, as well as the baby,” said Turanli, 35.

And so, the two began the creation of Lullaland. Each class had a different theme and plenty of sensory objects — no repeats all year.

Lullaland began with Turanli instructing classes in St. Vital. The business still doesn’t have its own physical location; instead, it occupies community centres and studios.

Demand grew through word of mouth and social media. Several of Wednesday’s participants said they had learned about Lullaland through recommendations.

“Especially in the earlier days, we could just never keep up with demand,” Turanli said.

Each season brought thoughts of opening in a new location, Hiebert said, adding they didn’t want to grow too fast and “compromise the quality of the program.”

She permanently moved back to Winnipeg in June 2023.

Over the years, the entrepreneurs have researched sensory play and common milestones for babies, which they’ve used to shape the curriculum. They tout Lullaland as a first-of-its-kind interactive baby sensory class.

Sessions are in spurts of seven classes. Participants enrol based on skill level: six-week-olds to sitting unsupported, sitting to taking first steps, and new walkers. The oldest children are 31/2. Each session costs $161, not including tax.

New franchisees will get an operating manual leaving “no stone unturned” on running Lullaland classes, Hiebert stated. The team will train new members in Winnipeg, she added.

She and Turanli declined to say how much franchising fees would cost; start-up expenses depend on how big of an operation the franchisee wants to take on.

“It’s actually more about, ‘Are we finding the right person?’” said Hiebert, 34. “Ultimately, they’re passionate about baby development, just like we are.”

Romie Dhaliwal searched for sensory classes after her son’s birth amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Such classes are popular in Asia, she noted.

She’s an optometrist; she was pleased by the increase in her son’s eye tracking.

“I had a second baby just to experience Lullaland in a normal setting,” Dhaliwal joked, moments before holding Jind (sans crocheted fish hat).

Other attendees said their babies seemed more comfortable around others, and they’d found their own friendships while playing parachute and letting the kids roam.

Sensory baby classes have gained popularity globally over the past decade. Companies like Lullaland promote themselves as contributing to early brain development.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com