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.

Hello friends,

If you read last week’s story, you know how the Feelings Habit Animals were born: from six kids in my living room who insisted, “We need a quiz. That would make it fun.”

They were right, of course. But after we created the quiz, the kids had a new request:
“We need comics.”

At first, I wasn’t sure how to make it work (I’m not really a comics person). Every time I tried, it came out too “teachy.” I’d read a line aloud and one of the kids would grin and say, “No kid would ever say that.”

I’d laugh and reply, “Okay then, what would they say?”

Sometimes we’d go back and forth, rewriting the same line until it felt real. I wanted the message to come through. They wanted the characters to sound like actual kids.

So I started pairing kids according to their Feelings Habit Animals — Bears, Deer-Beavers, and Chameleons — because we wanted the stories to resonate with what real kids feel inside.

If James (our Bear) was going to come alive, he needed a Bear’s voice — big emotions, quick flare-ups, and a soft heart underneath. If Anita (our Deer-Beaver mix) was going to feel real, she needed kids who knew what it was like to overthink or worry about being “bad.” And if Sam (our Chameleon) was going to hide feelings in a way that felt authentic, I needed the insight of kids who knew that habit firsthand.

When we worked on Adventure 6, the “Chameleon” kids helped me shape one of the most honest scenes in Volume 1:

Sam wasn’t invited to a friend’s birthday party and sat building with Legos while insisting,

“I don’t care that I wasn’t invited. Parties are dumb! I’d rather be here playing Legos.”

Curi, the curious chick who shows up in every comic, peeked out from a Lego tower and said,

“Are you resisting sadness? It’s okay to be sad, you know.”

Sam answered quickly,

“What? Me? Sad? Nope.”

Then Curi just stayed close, quietly curious, and asked,

“What are you making?”

That small moment with a chick, a Lego city, and a kid not ready to talk about feelings became a powerful lesson on how to honor and work with resistance.

The kids taught me something else, too. I used to think Chameleons hid their feelings on purpose. But through these conversations, I realized something deeper: for Chameleons, the feelings hide themselves. It isn’t avoidance, it’s unconscious protection.

Understanding the chameleon habit changed not only how I saw Sam, but also real kids I work with every day (and grown-ups like my husband!).

And that’s when I saw it again: Play is the secret door.

Through comics, kids didn’t feel lectured. They saw themselves. They laughed at James, felt for Anita, and recognized Sam’s quiet sadness. Resistance melted and compassion grew.

This is why the Mindfulness & Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids looks the way it does. Every page was shaped by kids, and by the habits they were learning to hold with kindness.

Next time, I’ll share how kids drew their own comics first…and even helped choose the illustrator who brought the final characters to life. I’m also hoping to share some of the early comic versions with you.

With love and courage,
Jamie Lynn

P.S. In our family, we sometimes tease each other about our feelings habits. But it doesn’t always land well if someone’s upset (like the other day when I called Maya a Bear-ver while she was obsessing and exploding over a lost item). I’ve learned that the best time to joke is when everyone’s calm… and, honestly, a good rule of thumb is that it’s best when we joke about our own habits.💛

Thank you for being a part of our community. Your presence really matters.

🐾Read next: When Children Taught Me How to See — How a few wise kids (and one tiny ant) taught me that pictures can teach what words cannot.