Hello friends,
This week’s story is the final chapter in my child-centered, play-based creation series. While these stories might seem to be about how I co-created the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbooks for Kids, they’re really about something deeper: learning to listen to children about how they love to learn.
Again and again, the kids showed me that when we listen with curiosity instead of control, learning becomes joyful for all of us. And in this last story, their sense of fun took our project in a direction I never could have planned.
Originally, the workbook was one big book with 168 pages of lessons, comics, and quizzes. I tested it with lots of kids, and they enjoyed it. There were smiles, engagement, and the occasional thumbs up. But not two thumbs-up.
Something was still missing.
The lessons were engaging, but the spark—that sense of pure joy and connection—wasn’t quite there. So I invited the kids to start teaching each other. I believed that the kids would discover what was missing as they taught other kids. And they sure did!
The Quest was born
I thought that we could go on a quest to help the Feelings Animals learn resilience habits. This sounded like a very worthy cause to me, so I proposed it to kids. But the kids looked at me and, almost in unison, said, “Boo! Two thumbs down!” (Yes, they literally booed the idea.)
Then Lailah had another idea: “What if Doodles the dolphin is turning ten and has never had a birthday party!? We could go on sixteen adventures to gather ingredients for a magical cake for Doodles’ surprise party!”
And that was it! The purpose of the quest and the whole adventure was born: to gather birthday cake ingredients for Doodles’ surprise party. I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical at first. Would children, including third-grade boys, really buy into this idea? Yep. They did. Doodles’ surprise party turned out to be really motivating and deeply engaging for kids. We had to break the book into two volumes to fit all the quest elements, and at the end of Volume 1, kids (even those third grade boys) would ask me when they could start Volume 2.
“Why?” I’d ask with curiosity.
“To get to Doodles’ surprise birthday party!”
Suddenly the workbook wasn’t just a set of lessons—it was an adventure. We created a big map showing sixteen lands that “you” (the reader) would travel through alongside the Feelings Habit Animals.
The map, of course, was initially created by kids. Look at all the delightful details in the kids’ draft!
Each land became an adventure filled with comics, talking animals, real kids sharing, and playful activities. At the end of every adventure, kids earned another ingredient for the surprise cake—and a reason to celebrate what they were learning together.
Play had opened the door again, the secret door that leads to joy, engagement, and genuine learning.
And speaking of celebration, this past week marked the first birthday of Volume 1! Next week we’ll have our own celebration. I can’t wait!
With warmth and gratitude,
Jamie Lynn
P.S. I just got a dragon costume for some playful videos that I’ll be creating for Volume 2. Play can be our secret door, too, friends!
🌱 This blog series starts here: The Day Kids Made Me Write a Quiz — the origin story behind the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbooks for Kids.