Scrap Attack

My sister and I grew up in a household with two educator parents; our mom started as a special education teacher and, by the time she retired, was an autism consultant and a low vision consultant. Our dad was a school psychologist for over 35 years. As you can imagine, dinner table discussions revolved largely around LEARNING and KIDS, and something must have rubbed off, because my sister and I both ended up becoming educators and then moms! I (Lindsey) became a special education teacher and a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) with 3 kids of my own, and my sister Kristin is a college chemistry instructor with 2 kids. We both spent years studying and researching the ways in which people learn and master difficult skills and have applied those lessons both to our young children and to our students.

Using our knowledge for littles and learning we created PlayPods: By Sprinkle in LearningTM. PlayPods are carefully curated educational activities to help kids develop important skills through play. PlayPods are designed for when you are in a pinch: at a restaurant, the doctor’s office or on an airplane. Each PlayPod supports both structured and unstructured play and includes guidance to implement optional extensions and variations to keep curious minds interested and engaged. One of our main goals when creating each new PlayPod is to be sure they are accessible for children of ALL abilities. As a special education teacher, I know how expensive adaptive educational toys are – and it is a dream to be able to improve this market by offering reasonably priced fun and educational activities.

So how do PlayPods relate to scissors and cutting? Well, when we aren’t parenting or teaching, my sister and I are probably scrapbooking. In fact, we both have designated spaces JUST for this hobby. We love creating something beautiful with our memories that will last a lifetime, and it started when we were kids. We would rummage around the house for random scraps (paper, fabric, ribbon), grab some recently developed photos and make memory books. Over the years our scrapbooking supplies grew slowly – stickers, stamps, and eventually a scissors collection. I still remember when we got our first pair of “fun” scissors. My sister and I saved our chore money for weeks until we were finally able to afford one of those scissors that cuts in a zig-zag pattern. Over the years our scissors collection grew, and today, I couldn’t even begin to count how many different scissors we have accumulated between the 2 of us! I’m pretty sure my sister even has a flamingo shaped scissors! So, while the fad has changed to now making scrapbooks digitally, my sister and I just couldn’t part with our scissors collection; therefore, we continue to scrapbook the old fashion way, and couldn’t be happier.

One night, during one of our PlayPod business meetings, we were reminiscing about our old memory books we made as kids. That night, thinking about our passion for scrapbooking, we developed one of our favorite PlayPods to date: Scrap Attack. This PlayPod is essentially a scrapbooking PlayPod with an emphasis on cutting. Included in this PlayPod is a pair of scissors, of course, stickers, washi tape, fabric, ribbon and activity cards with different games and challenges to complete with your scissors and scrapbook supplies.

Weeks into brainstorming “Scrap Attack,” we decided to take it one step further by returning to one of our initial goals when we launched Sprinkle in Learning, LLC – making sure our products and activities are accessible to children of ALL abilities. So, the Scrap Attack prototype has evolved to be accessible to more children. For example, the final version will optionally include adapted loop scissors, larger stickers, and high contrast paper. The “Scrap Attack” PlayPod will be the perfect toy for littles passionate about cutting and scrapbooking but who struggle with fine motor skills or low vision.

While we have enjoyed brainstorming and developing each one of our PlayPods, “Scrap Attack”, by far, has been our favorite because it incorporates our scrapbooking passion and our commitment to making developing products with special needs littles in mind. Researching, vetting and testing scissors was possibly one of the most fun things I’ve gotten to do since starting our PlayPod adventures!! Big ones, small ones, colorful ones, plastic ones, metal ones, zig zaggy ones, curvy ones, animal ones (alligator, not flamingo), etc. Some nights we laughed at how excited we would get over a discussion about scissors. I couldn’t imagine nurturing something like this with anyone but Kristin. One of my favorite parts of this entire process is every business meeting ends in, “I love you, and what page did you scrapbook today?”