THE SENSORY MADE SIMPLE PODCAST

Transcript

Hello, hello, welcome to episode number 26 of the Food Explorers Podcast.

Today is special.

Today we are bringing on a mom turned entrepreneur.

I am so excited to have Jennifer Stalley with me on the podcast today to talk about her brand new product that is launching this month.

Full disclosure, you guys know I have made a promise to only promote products I have personally tested and loved.

Of course, since this product is not yet to market, I have not been able to test it.

So I cannot put my full personal Dr.

Sam seal of approval on it yet, but don't you worry.

I will be diving in as soon as I can.

But I loved the idea and the mission behind these sensory kits.

You know I love sensory play and I find Jennifer really inspiring.

So I wanted to bring her on to share her story.

A little about Jennifer.

Jennifer Stalley is a pandemic parent who genuinely wants to help a mother out.

As the founder and president of Memesie Magic, a four moms buy a mom company, she has set out to bring sensory play to children around the world and help moms take a load off.

Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, she spent 15 years in the entertainment industry, marketing the biggest entertainment releases of the year.

In theaters with Fox and Sony Pictures, streaming at home with Hulu, and in video games at PlayStation.

She is a big believer in the power of play for all ages on screen and off.

So without further ado, let me introduce you to Jennifer.

So Jenn, I am so excited to have you here today with us.

So excited to hear a little bit of what is going on behind the scenes, but can you start by telling us a little bit about you and who you are?

Absolutely.

Thanks Sam.

And I'm so excited to be here.

I've been a big fan of your podcast for a long time now.

So it's a big honor to join you.

I am a pandemic mother who wants to help a mother out.

I have founded Memesie Magic.

It's a four moms by a mom company.

And I have set out to bring sensory play to children around the world and to help moms take a load off.

I'm really passionate about play and fun and childhood whimsy and sensory play really saved my neck in the pandemic.

And it's been so fun and rewarding for my daughter.

And I want other parents to know more about it.

Oh, I love that.

You know, as a OT, sensory play is like my jam.

I love all things sensory, which is how we connect it.

So you did say that it started out of COVID.

So how did it start out of COVID?

So I not only had a seven month old when COVID started, I ended up switching jobs.

I started a new job.

We didn't have any childcare, of course, because you know, what was going on with the world anyway at the time.

So I had a lot on my plate.

I'm an introvert, which made kind of that 10 month to 18 month period really tough for me because my daughter just really wanted to play with me all of the time.

And I was putting out so much energy to get off on a strong start with my new job and to be present and accounted for emotionally and mentally and physically for so many other people.

And then when I would take over in the afternoon, I would work early and my husband would work late and we would kind of stagger to cover things.

When I would take over at like four or five, I was so wiped.

And then that's when my daughter really wanted to play with me and I didn't have anything left.

And I am a bit of a perfectionist.

I have high standards for myself.

So of course, I wanted to be the best mom in the world.

And I would be up late at night nursing her, scrolling Pinterest.

Like, what am I going to do with my toddler tomorrow?

What I have, because by the time I walk through the door, I don't want to get my phone out and figure out what, what's the activity that we're going to do?

How am I going to engage her?

And especially when they're that little, you feel so much pressure to make every minute count.

Their brains are expanding so fast that it's like, I have to keep throwing things at her all the time and push her and teach her and really invest this meaningful time with her.

So at night, I would be scrolling, trying to pick a new activity so that I would be ready to go the next day when I had to take over parental duties and be like the main parent at that point.

So I found sensory play that way.

And I was like, oh my gosh, this really speaks to me.

I love to be so creative and it just looks so fun and whimsical.

And I got really into dyeing the rice and the pasta and everything one weekend.

And I was like, I'm going to crush it this week.

It was basically like meal prep, but for sensory play.

And it took over my whole kitchen because, you know, you have to spread each color out.

So I was going to do a rainbow one because those are the most beautiful.

And I had one cookie sheet of each color.

And then you have to wait for it to dry.

Then you have to turn it and wait for it to dry.

And TLDR, I put this rainbow rice down.

And after 10 minutes, she mixed it together and off she went.

Like, oh, no, it was missing.

It was missing so many elements for her.

Right.

And then eventually I figured out, eventually, pretty quickly, I figured out that you could just go online and buy some sensory kits that people have put together and they have figured this out.

And I know that there's a lot more cost-efficient ways to go.

You could go to Michael's and spend a couple bucks and get a tube of plastic characters or little animals or something.

I would see these setups and I'm like, this looks so simple.

And then you go to do it yourself.

And it is not that simple.

It took over my whole garage and everything.

But my daughter absolutely loved it.

It was the only thing that would get her to play independently.

And I could have a minute to make dinner and get a decent meal together that was hot and balanced and included vegetables.

And I actually felt like an amazing mom because she was so engaged.

You know, that feeling when kids are so focused that you can almost like feel the steam coming off of their brain because their brain is just going so hard on the task.

I could feel that coming off of her.

And she would still look up and say, Mom, see what I've done.

Mom, look at this cool thing I've come up with.

And I was right there.

I could pop down and, oh, yes, look at this.

You came up with such a creative thing.

But I could take a moment before I really needed to engage again.

And it saved my sanity and let me catch my breath.

And it checked so many boxes for me.

I was taking care of myself.

I was taking care of my family.

I was taking care of my daughter.

And I just really wanted that feeling for so many moms out there.

And the world who are trying to do everything.

And if I can help support that a little bit through this company by making these awesome sensory kits for them, great.

I feel good about the way I've spent my life.

Something that you said too, you said you could go out and buy it.

You could go out and make it.

In my experience, most of the parents that I work with, most of the parents I'm talking to, they have all these big ideas.

They've got the Pinterest board saved.

They got these things they want to do.

And really, you're just trying to make it through the day, especially when you're doing this through COVID.

Yes.

So I love what you are doing.

I think that it is going to bring so much to parents and just an easy way to do this and take those ideas and actually run with them.

So we did get connected because you reached out about your sensory kits.

So can you tell us a little bit about what you have planned for them?

Yeah, absolutely.

So I've really leaned into my values at this point in my life.

I'm such a people pleaser.

I really I'm happiest when everyone else is happy.

But I'm trying to turn a new leaf, especially becoming a mom.

I'm like, I need to take a breath and think about what is really aligned with my values and what I want to see in the world.

Because when I think about my own daughter, I want her to be the most her that there ever was.

And then when you think about that for yourself, that your mom probably thought that about you, I just had this moment of self-love and an appreciation for exactly who I am.

And when I was starting the company, my husband and I had extensive talks about how much we love the earth.

We love nature.

We live in the Santa Cruz mountains.

We're surrounded by trees, wildflowers.

I'm getting really into gardening.

I find it so rewarding to just have dirt under my fingernails.

I love sailing and hiking and all of that.

I just want to see as much of the world as I can.

And when I would buy the sensory kits online back in the pandemic days, early pandemic days, they're so full of plastic and I loved them.

And it checked so many boxes for me.

But I got to a point where I just couldn't do any more plastic and I had to stop buying them.

I would browse and browse and I would see the ads on social.

I would really, I'd put it in my cart, but I could never quite pull the trigger.

And I just couldn't bring any more plastic into my house.

So I knew from the beginning when I started the company, if I was going to do this and I was going to try and scale it, and trying to reach as many parents and children out there as I could, it could not be misaligned with my values about this.

So everything in our kit is made from natural materials.

It's sustainable and eco-friendly.

We have reduced the amount of plastic that we use, as far as we possibly could.

The dough is in it because it needs to be airtight.

But otherwise, the boxes are made from bamboo and wheat straw.

The materials inside are actual seashells.

Why would you put a plastic seashell in a mermaid kit?

Especially if the whole point is to engage the senses.

When you get into the tactile senses, if everything's made of plastic, you get the same smooth plastic feeling every single time.

So I saw that as a win-win because we were producing a better sensory kit this way, but also it was better for the planet.

And I could sleep at night knowing that I was adding to the 21,000 pieces of plastic that are out there floating around in the ocean for every person on the planet at this point.

I love that you talked about texture here because yes, the only way we learn textures is by encountering different textures and practicing with them.

So yes, it totally carries over to the beach if you are practicing an actual seashell versus a plastic seashell.

Okay, so you said that you have a mermaid kit.

Tell us a little bit about what would be kind of in that mermaid kit.

Yeah, absolutely.

It was really challenging from the beginning to stick with this commitment of sustainability when designing the kits.

The toy industry is not geared this direction.

And I think that there's a perception that plastic is the safer option for toys, but I don't actually think that that's true necessarily.

And especially when you get into Montessori parenting and education and values, there's a big effort there to stick with natural materials too.

And I think a lot of these wooden toys have a very heirloom quality to them.

But when I was first trying to source the elements that would be in a mermaid kit, I had to really find the right people who understood the mission and what we were trying to do.

Because when you talk to somebody who sells seashells, they're like, it's for a toy?

You're the first person who has asked about that.

And part of the fun of a sensory kit for children is the fact that you're working with teeny tiny little pieces and they get to make their own world really come to life.

And the toys fit in their hand.

And the toys fit in the bin.

And the rice really feels like an element of the environment.

And everything's just so scaled down.

They love little tiny stuff because they're little tiny people.

And so I was trying to find good solutions for characters for that.

And everything is resin.

Everything is plastic that's out there.

So I really had to push people to come up with new solutions.

So a lot of our characters are wooden peg dolls.

That have been painted by hand.

We have a lot of accessories and characters that go with that.

Like in the mermaid kit, we have little pyrite turtles.

They are so shiny and smooth and cool to the touch.

And everybody who sees these turtles is like, I have to have these turtles.

I need so many of them, the adults included.

I want one of these on my desk.

So I went to a stone and crystal route for a lot of these characters.

And we had a lot of fun dropping them from 10 feet up onto the tile floor to see what would break and making sure that it was safe for children and everything.

Not all of them were, but the ones that we include absolutely are.

So it was just really fun to think about alternative materials.

And as often as we could get the real thing, like with a seashell, we did that.

That is so cool.

So, okay, you would open up the kit.

We'd find some little dolls.

We'd find a seashell, a turtle.

And then you also mentioned some Play-Dohs.

Yes, there's Play-Doh.

There is a bit of kinetic sand because it's a mermaid.

So of course they should have sand to be on the beach.

The mermaid kit comes with some interesting slime, which I know can be...

depending on your own tactile responses, slime can be more challenging for some people.

So definitely want to be mindful of that.

There's also a little wooden treasure chest and some actual beach glass that, you know, it's not sharp.

It's totally child safe, but it's inside the treasure chest.

And then each one of the kits actually comes with an element that has some kind of paper item, and it's made from wildflower seed paper.

Because I know that at some point, every kit comes with so many pieces, right?

They're going to be spread into the world at some point.

That's just the nature of children.

So at least if a piece of paper is going to blow across the parking lot or out into the front yard, we're spreading wildflower seeds and adding more options for the bees.

So I felt good about that.

So in the mermaid kit, that's little pirate treasure coins that go in the treasure chest.

And for the Christmas one, it's some poinsettia leaves.

And for the dinosaur kit, it's prehistoric leaves.

So there's always some kind of wildflower paper element.

I think that is so cool.

What a cool idea to add that because yes, you're right.

Kids accumulate stuff.

Things move everywhere.

They blow away.

And yet you're adding to the earth.

That's really cool.

We tried.

We really tried to think about all of the elements as much as we could along the way.

I was chatting with someone about the company, and she was like, you're such a value-driven company from the ground up.

And I hadn't even put it together, but I always felt like you should do as much good as you can in all the ways that you can.

And so even when we were looking at our warehouse and our kidding options and everything, this company came around that's a non-profit that works with the county that we're in.

They hire people who are straight out of county jail and give them a job for the first three months of release so that people have somewhere to go.

They have a purpose to their day.

They have an opportunity to have a soft landing instead of just being released and that's the end of the story.

And it's proven to help with the recidivism rate.

So I was like, absolutely, I want to work with this company.

This is a great opportunity.

And they actually work with a lot of toy companies.

So they have a lot of expertise in the area, but I just felt so good about doing a little more for the community in this way with the warehouse.

Wow.

So something else you have mentioned that is really cool and unique is that your kids actually fit into the Ikea storage that all the moms have.

They do.

They do.

I have one of the tables, too.

It took me a very long time to find it in the pandemic.

It was quite a trial.

But I, in the spirit of making things as easy as possible for moms, I love that there is some organization to the kits.

You can set it right into the, I think you say it fills that table bin, and then you pop the lid off, and that is literally all that's required of you.

At that point, your kids can go to town doing whatever.

I've had some people suggest that I should put together instructions on what you can do with the kit.

How do you make the volcano with these items?

And when it came down to it, I was like, I don't actually think you understand how this works.

The value of this is that the kids are leading the play.

It's whatever comes to mind for them, and play is literally how children process a lot of their emotions and feelings about what's happening in their life.

And the magic of this is that it's independent play.

We don't need to involve ourselves.

There's no instructions of how to put the legos together to make the draft.

The kids just take it and run with it.

And I remember that my daughter really struggled with her first couple of birthdays because they'd all been pandemic birthdays.

And it was the first time she had even six people around her.

And it was just a lot.

It was very overwhelming.

And she hasn't been to other birthdays.

She hasn't been out with crowds.

So I remember there was just a lot of anxiety on her part around what was happening, why there were so many people, why they were all looking at her.

All of a sudden you throw sugar into the mix with a cake, right?

And it's just a lot for children.

And so there was a birthday sensory kit that we played with a lot, and she reenacted her birthday for a really long time to just help her work through it.

So back to the instructions, I was just kind of like, that's not what we're doing here.

I understand the want and the crave for it from parents because it makes you feel like a good parent to sit down and say, okay, here's what we're going to do and I'm going to teach you.

If you want to be involved, sit down and play the open-ended imaginary play with them, but you don't need instructions.

It's whatever you want to make it.

Yeah, and kids come up with amazing things when you actually kind of just watch and follow along.

They come up with really inventive ideas.

Oh, absolutely.

Yes, that's half the fun.

That is half the fun.

So you also mentioned earlier in this episode that you used your sensory kits while you prepped and cooked for dinner.

Do you have tips for parents on how to set this up and what the easiest ways to do this are so they can focus on cooking dinner but still have an eye on their little ones?

Absolutely.

In the beginning, I just used cookie sheets, and I would put some kind of items, some beans or some pasta or something in the cookie sheet or ice in the summer.

And I would put her on the floor in the middle of the kitchen, and I would just cook around her.

And I think she felt really included in the preparation of dinner because she was in the kitchen, she had kitchen items.

I'd toss an extra measuring cup or spoon her way, and off she would go.

And then later when I got into the more complex kits with themes and everything that I was ordering, I would put the PhilSat table in the middle of the kitchen, and I would grab a new kit.

I was working in the garage because we literally ran out of space in the pandemic.

And we have an open floor plan, which made concentrating and quiet really difficult.

So I would stash these in the garage, and I would just grab one before I walked into the house, and I would say, okay, today we're doing dinosaurs, here we go.

Move the table in, set it down, and she would go to town, and I could have a moment.

That is such a neat idea for parents, because mealtime, I think my sister, when she cooks, is one of the hardest times, because her kids are usually right behind her.

They are hungry, they are ready, they are screaming at her, so I could totally see her doing something like this, pulling in that table, and letting her kids play for a little bit, have some fun.

And yeah, still kind of being included in what is going on in the kitchen, and still watching you prep something, which from a food standpoint, I love getting kids involved anywhere.

Absolutely.

And eventually it did lead to more participation on her part in the kitchen.

We got one of those stands that she could, one of the learning towers, so she could be up at counter height, and she loves to cook.

And I've tried really hard not to pressure her into it, but if she wants to join in, she absolutely can.

Now that she's almost four, if she hears the KitchenAid stand makes it go, she is in the kitchen immediately.

She knows cupcakes or muffins or something is coming, and she's a little less into the rest of it.

But we had a lot of the Montessori knives that were child safe, and she's great at peeling carrots, and just I've tried so hard to make food fun, and I think a lot of that started with fun was happening in the kitchen.

And she feels very comfortable, like she can jump in to the activity if she wants to.

Yeah, and a lot of the time, too, playing with these sensory toys, playing with rice, playing with beans, all of this starts to get them ready for those steps because they're used to that sensory play.

Exactly.

So if you have to scoop the bowl, the muffin mix with your fingers, I think it's not so uncomfortable because we've been playing with lots of different materials like that.

And you've practiced using that measuring cup to pour.

So I think that's a really great way to start getting kids involved in the kitchen a little bit.

Absolutely.

Another thing I found really interesting about your history is that you began your career in movies and video games.

How did you make this big jump?

Can you tell us how it connects?

I know where you started, but where is the connection there?

Yeah, absolutely.

I think it actually started when I was a child.

I grew up on a ranch, and my parents rode horses in 100-mile races.

It would take 24 hours to complete.

And so I spent a lot of time in camp.

This was obviously pre-cell phone.

Of course, there was no cell service anyway, if there had been.

So we spent a lot of time around campfires, just sitting and waiting for people to ride into camp, and then we would support them, and out they would go on the next loop.

And I really developed a fondness for great storytelling and connection with other human beings in that kind of leisurely state.

So after I graduated from college into the recession, when there was no job options anywhere, and I was caught in that catch-22 of, if you have no experience, no one wants to hire you, but you don't have any experience because no one's hired you.

And I decided if I was going to work for free and go get experience, I was going to do something really interesting, and I was going to move to LA and work in movies.

And I did.

And it turned into a career.

And then eventually my husband and I moved up to the San Francisco area, and movies turned into video games, and then I became a mom.

And I was like, how do I make sure that parents know that all of this fun and playtime is available for their children?

And it didn't necessarily seem like it connected looking forward, but looking back, I can totally see that playtime has been really important to me throughout my life.

So of course I went and started a toy company.

Perfect job for somebody who loves play, right?

Exactly.

Whether it's on the screen, I'm okay.

Like I get that play happens on screens for a lot of people.

It can also happen off screen.

Too much of anything is not good, right?

It's all about balance.

But of course this is the way that play comes to life for this age group.

It's very interactive.

It's 3D.

They can get their hands in it and make a big mess.

Yeah.

So you have clearly done a lot of sensory play.

And as you mentioned, sensory play kind of is somewhere that parents struggle getting ideas and coming up with things to do.

I think you mentioned you might have some resources for parents about sensory play.

I do.

I do.

I have five suggestions for how to get into sensory play right now with items that you already have in your pantry.

If you're looking for that download, it's available on our website at memesimagic.com.

And I think Sam's going to put it in the show notes.

Some of the activities that are included in our download are things like making fake snow, some fizzy dough, some things that are more interactive than just beans.

But it doesn't have to be that complicated if you want to do it now.

So for example, the first one is play snow, and it requires some baking soda and some hair conditioner.

So most of us out there should have those items available in the house.

And then you could just mix two and a half cups of the baking soda with a half a cup of the hair conditioner, and off you go.

You've got fake snow.

You know, fake snow is one of the sensory activities I have never done.

As I'm sitting here, I'm like, I can't believe I've never tried to make fake snow before.

It's so simple.

Living in California, snow is so magical to us.

It's so rare.

So it's really appealing to me in the wintertime.

Oh my gosh, me too, from Florida.

So same thing, snow just feels like magic.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So if somebody wants to learn more, if somebody wants to order a kit, where can they find you?

When will they be available?

Because they are not available yet.

No, but we are accepting pre-orders.

Our website is memesimagic.com.

And for anybody wondering what a Memesie is, it's actually my daughter's nickname for my mom.

And especially in the early pandemic days, when Memesie would come visit, those were our most magical days.

And I always felt like the best version of myself when she would come visit.

It helped me take a load off.

She helped teach me how to really reduce the anxiety around parenting and just enjoy the moment, like take the pressure off.

And I wanted to send that energy out into the world for all of the parents.

So the way we spell it is M-E-E-M-Z-Y.

And that's memesiemagic.com.

The downloads are on there for any century play you want to get started on now.

We have five kits that are available for preorder, and they'll start shipping in mid-June.

So we're only a few weeks out now.

Only a few weeks out, and yes, yes.

We'll put all of the, those links in the show notes, and then online under the Podcast tab.

So www.theotforme.com under Podcast.

You'll find that all.

So I do, before we get going, have some rapid fire questions for you that I like to ask my guests.

So number one, as you know, I talk all about sensory processing and how we each have our own little sensory quirks.

So, for example, I get goose bumps just thinking about touching Sarantana.

So is there a sensory quirk you have?

Yes, I cannot stand if my sleeves are twisted around in the wrong way.

Like the hardest thing I have to do in a day is wear a t-shirt and put a sweatshirt on over the top.

Everything needs to be lined up the correct direction.

Even now, this shirt has the loosest sleeves, so I don't have to worry about that today.

And I'm also very sensitive to temperature, so when I get really hot, I just have a very short fuse.

I really need to be able to calm down.

So my husband knows now, don't touch me.

Just let me go away into a quiet dark space for a moment, and then I can reset.

Your sensory thermometer gets way too hot, way too quick with that.

Exactly.

So what was eating like for you as a child, and does it influence now how you interact with food?

I have a lot of feelings about food from my childhood that I should probably speak to someone about.

But when it came to how I wanted to raise my daughter and her feelings about food, I'm really trying to break the generational pattern with her and take the pressure off and make it fun and just let food be food for her.

And so we really leaned into baby led weaning, and a lot of people have a lot of feelings about that.

But now that she's almost four, at the end of the day, I'm really happy with that choice.

I think that was the right call for us.

She's been a great explorer of different food types.

We love to eat a big variety of foods.

Growing up on a ranch, we stuck to kind of the main Americana type things.

But I've really found a love and a passion for travel and lots of different cultures as I've grown.

And so one of the things that we cook fairly regularly is Vietnamese pho from scratch.

And it makes the house smell so delicious.

And my daughter absolutely loves it.

She calls it noodles.

She just thinks it's noodles.

But it's one of the ways we can get her to eat meat and get some iron.

She's not a big fan of eating most meats.

We made a joke actually at one of the pediatrician appointments when the doctor asked, what does she eat?

We said, oh, she's a fruitatarian.

And that's not a word.

And of course, the doctor was like, who are these people?

But we were just trying to convey that she loves fruit and she basically lives on fruit.

And what the doctor was getting at was how much meat or beans or lentils is she eating because her iron is a little low.

So pho is one of our secret ingredients to help balance it out.

I've heard that a lot recently.

Really?

I can't pronounce it right.

I always say pho.

But pho and ramen and all of those soups have been a really big winner with everybody I've been talking to recently.

Oh, great.

Well, perfect.

Add our name to the list.

And I am personally a fan of those cuisines, so I get it.

Okay, and our last question.

What is one technique that you use to either calm down or wake up your nervous system when you're noticing you're a little dysregulated?

Yes, I think this goes along with being a bit of an introvert.

I just need some quiet, dark space, especially if it's cool.

And I've been overheated.

And I also just love to go out away from people into the barn and see my horses and muck some stalls and just have some quiet time.

I'm very sensitive to noise.

I had no idea about all of this stuff for myself until I really got into sensory play.

And the more I've learned about it, even in talking with you, Sam, and listening to your podcast, I'm like, oh my gosh, that's me.

So now I'm trying to be that much more aware about, okay, I know what I need to do to solve this problem.

I need a quiet moment.

I've overbooked myself, or I've overstimulated myself, or this is just too loud.

It's not about who's making the noise, it's about me.

I need to be the adult and take myself away and meet my needs for a moment so that I can come back and act in a regulated way and move on with my day in a successful way.

Oh, I think that's amazing that you've taken that and applied it to yourself.

And you're noticing those things too, because we forget too as parents, your nervous system is important too.

Yeah, I think that is great.

I think that's a great strategy for a lot of the parents on here.

Awesome.

Thanks, Sam.

Thank you, Jenn.

Thank you so much for being here with us today.

I am so excited to see what you have planned, what's coming soon in the future.