Jennic Law loves it when parents bring their children into her Valley Junction toy store KangarooBoo. The petite but energetic shop owner is just as likely to plop down on the floor and play with her youngest customers as she is to spend time demonstrating some of the 1,000 plus items she offers in the store.

“The most fun is interacting with kids,” says Jennic, a 34-year-old chemical engineer by trade.

Jennic and her husband Justin Law have operated KangarooBoo as a storefront for two years. Before that the couple sold the high-quality, mostly European-made toys online. The store is filled with unique, wooden, handcrafted and handmade toys, many of which are eco-friendly, having been made from sustainable materials.

There is not a single cartoon character-based toy in the shop. And shoppers won’t find toys with flashing lights or other bells and whistles to draw children’s attention.

“The toys we sell here have to have good play value,” Jennic says, which includes good design, made from safe materials and has the ability to “ignite a child’s creativity and imagination.”

The Laws became interested in quality educational toys when their children, now 7 and 5, were very young. Fans of attachment parenting, a style of parenting that advocates family sleeping, breast-feeding and wearing your baby in a sling for much of the day, the Laws were searching for well-made, stimulating toys for their own children.

Before they offer a new brand, they obtain a sample and test it. “We try to avoid cheaply made products,” she says. “If a toy is not going to last through a child’s play then we don’t buy it.”

Jennic Law had immigrated to the United States when she was 12 after spending her early years in hiding in China. Her parents broke Chinese law by having Jennic, their second child, when only one was legal. Her parents eventually paid a hefty fine and left China for Davenport, where Law’s grandparents lived.

She majored in chemical engineering at Iowa State University and worked as a process engineer at a company in Minneapolis. She met Justin, a native of Malaysia, online and the two began dating. They married in September of 2000 and 10 weeks later, Jennic was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

“But I beat it,” she says. “I have been in remission since 2001.”

Two years later they had their first child, a boy they named Sebastian. She was laid off from her job in 2005 right after she gave birth to a daughter, Fiona. And right before Christmas in 2006, Justin was laid off from his job as a software programmer.

Justin was an entrepreneur at heart and was always looking to start a business.

“Layoffs can be a good thing,” Jennic says. “It was the thing Justin needed to give him that boost to start a business.” They moved to West Des Moines, to be close to Jennic’s brother who was living in Ankeny.

Together the pair started researching and then selling toys on the Internet. They started out with Haba, a German company that makes wooden toys, and added Plan Toys, Bajo, Sigg and many others. The online business, which they were operating from home, was booming.

“We had inventory in the basement, under the beds, in the closets and all over the place,” Jennic says.

People from Des Moines were buying the toys and were asking why they didn’t have a store where they could feel and see the toys, she says. In 2008, they opened KangarooBoo the store on the far north side of the Valley Junction shopping area in West Des Moines. They have expanded the sales space a couple of times, squeezing out the warehouse, which is used for storage and shipping. The store is jammed with toys and includes a play area where kids can test products.

Jennic hopes to find warehouse room next year to free up even more store space.

The couple’s success has come at a price. “We haven’t had a family vacation for four years,” she says. And the hours are long. The Laws trade off being with their children so they don’t have to hire sitters.

Being a business owner is fun, Jennic says.

“It’s a bit of a clich, but I am the captain of my ship,” she says.

Fun Fridays KangarooBoo offers a free weekly program called Fun Fridays. Young children can participate in interactive storytelling, singing and crafts during the class, which begins at 10 a.m.and runs about 35 minutes. For more information on Fun Fridays, visit www.blog.kangarooboo.com .

KangarooBoo 415 Fifth St., West Des Moines(515) 974-6969Hours: 10 a.m to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday www.kangarooboo.com