I’m a mom, stepmom, and theatre educator helping exhausted parents access their inner creative playfulness for more connection and joy. No messy crafts, complicated setups, or sensory bins here! Just simple, silly moments that bring your family back together through laughter. My short weekly emails share reflections from real life and a simple invitation you can try for yourself or with your kids.
My dinosaur-related AHA moment!
|
My creative brain has been pretty ZAPPED. Waking up at 5am. Working after bedtime. Answering messages between wiping butts and fetching snacks. 😂 So I’ve actually been relying on my own Silly Moments apps more than usual — because I want to be present and have fun with my kids, but I really, really don’t want to have to think of how to do it. My son especially loves the You Are physical acting prompts (for channeling his wild, silly physical energy). But he’s DEEP in a dinosaur phase right now, so lately every prompt “HAS” to involve a dinosaur. The other night I was using my last remaining brain cell to somehow make it dinosaur-themed and thought… I wish there were just a whole dinosaur section of these apps!! 😮💨 And then I was like WAIT. I MADE THIS. I’ll make a dinosaur section!!! That sent me down a rabbit hole of more favorite kiddo topics... So I temporarily shoved my other projects aside and created six new Silly Moments “Extension Packs”: 🦖 Dinosaurs (duh) 🚗 Things That Go ✨ Magic & Make-Believe 🚀 Space 💨 Gross Stuff (no surprise, my fave to create) 🌿 Jungle That brings the collection to well over 3,000 silly prompts, plus thousands of possible drawing combinations! 🥹👏 And then I added one more fun update: If your family uses Plot Twist to record your silly stories, you now have the option to share your recordings to the Story Gallery for other families to listen to! (Totally optional, but I’m excited to share some of ours and would LOVE to hear yours 😁) One thing I’ve been thinking about while making these is how rewarding it can be to simply lean into what our kids are into. We don’t have to learn every fact about dinosaurs. (although I am learning a shocking amount these days) Just bringing their interests into our world a little… even in a silly way, can mean so much to them. (Like when I just mention “ankylosaurus” and see my son LIGHT up!) My invitation for you this week: Find one little way to step into whatever your kid is into right now. Bonus points if you can make it silly! And if your own creativity is running on fumes too, that is quite literallllly why I made the Silly Moments app bundle — so when our brains are fried, we can skip the thinking part and jump straight to the connection part. 💞 👉CHECK OUT THE SILLY MOMENTS APP BUNDLE HERE Already have the bundle? Surprise! 🎉 The new packs should already be there — just refresh! Cheering you on always, Mia P.S. I’m starting a pretty big new project this week that I’m VERY excited about. More on that in the coming month. 👀 P.P.S. In case you were wondering, here’s a pic of an anykylosaurus: MORE FROM PLAYFUL HEART PARENTING: Never wonder how to turn the moment around again. Instant games, hilarious ideas, and printable activities that make connection easy. Apps for any device + printable cards. Learn 70+ ridiculously fun improv games that naturally help you be present with your family. Video course + digital guidebook. Turn everyday parenting challenges into moments of laughter, connection, and cooperation. Private podcast course + community. |
Playful Heart Parenting
I’m a mom, stepmom, and theatre educator helping exhausted parents access their inner creative playfulness for more connection and joy. No messy crafts, complicated setups, or sensory bins here! Just simple, silly moments that bring your family back together through laughter. My short weekly emails share reflections from real life and a simple invitation you can try for yourself or with your kids.
My 10yo stepdaughter was feeling too nervous to eat breakfast before school. School-related anxiety is a thing we’ve been navigating for about two years now, and it ebbs and flows. Reasoning with her and telling her she had to eat was only making her cry and resist more. So I said how about we play a game to help your mind move through this? And if you can, eat some while we play? I was grateful she instantly agreed… we’ve done this before and she knows it helps. She chose “word ball” - a...
Did your teachers in school ever do the classic “If you can hear my voice, clap once…” thing? As a theatre educator, I did similar calls for students to pay attention but tried to mix things up to keep it more fun and less robotic… Like, “If you can hear my voice… put your finger on your nose stand on one foot Stick out your tongue Do the Macarena Say, “Well butter my biscuits!” Then my students would be like ☝️ Now at home with my son, I use the exact same strategy when it seems like he's...
First off, I think we can all agree there’s no better sound than a little kid belly laugh, right? Right. I sometimes forget just how easily and freely kids are ready to belly laugh, but the other day I got a reminder. I was sitting on the couch and my cranky 2-year-old (who’d skipped her nap) pushed against me. On a whim, I pretended she’d been strong enough to push me all the way off the couch and dramatically rolled onto the floor with a silly, “Whoaaaa!” She laughed SO hard. I climbed back...