Earlybird's Mindful Playtime App
- Are you tired of wondering what you can set up for your kid so they can play independently while you get a few things done?
- Need inspiration for fun, age-appropriate play ideas?
- Exhausted by their roller coaster of emotions and confused about how to help them manage their big feelings?
- Curious about what skills your kids should have by age X?
We are building an app for all of this!
With over 250 low-prep, developmentally appropriate activities for kids, we'll make personalized recommendations based on your child's age and current abilities. The app outlines what developmental milestones your child is at, and pairs these skills with easy, low-prep play ideas. We believe in nurturing the whole child. Everything on the Earlybird app uses the everyday materials that you already have to build your kid's early literacy, motor, numeracy, creative thinking, and social-emotional skills. Whether it's managing their own feelings or learning to communicate and read, these skills can be developed while your kids.. play!
The Earlybird app also introduces the idea of Mindful Playtime. We (and all the other child development specialists and play therapists) recommend as little as 10 mindful minutes of structured play a day – the kind of play where you, the grown-up, set up a simple, fast activity, put your phone away to deeply engage and build a meaningful connection with your child. The rest of your child's day will be filled with independent play as they use the skills they learned playing with you in their own unique and creative ways. Whether you complete an activity in the app or spend other dedicated time with your kid, we'll keep track of these mindful playtime moments for you. You can have confidence in knowing that in just 10 min per day you invested deeply in them and their future.
Our kids’ futures are going to look very different from ours. In this day and age, it matters more *how* someone thinks, rather than if they can memorize random facts. We want to build our kids' communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills and equip them to be confident, kind, empathic kids. Let's make sure all children get the strong start they deserve by making it easy for parents to have fun, play, and spend meaningful time with their kids.
Why Support Our Campaign?
This won't come as a surprise, but building an app is expensive. Earlybird has been entirely self-funded and we hope to keep it that way with your help. This is your opportunity to support two moms in tech in building a tool that will help families around the world raise calm, kind, bright kiddos.
Please consider supporting our campaign – we keep what we raise! Thank you!
About Us
Renée Jordan
Renée is Anderson and Frances’ mum. But she is also a teacher and curriculum designer with degrees in education, educational psychology and instructional design from the University of Victoria and Columbia University. She has worked with children and families in Canada and the United States to conduct learning assessments, devise learning plans and create resources to target key skills.
Sarah Hunter
Sarah is Darcy and Kai’s mum. She is also a designer and entrepreneur with a business degree from the University of Victoria. When she's not working on the business and designs for the app, she's testing out the activities and play ideas on her two boys.
