Everyday superpowers for tiny humans, five minutes at a time.
The Mindfulness Playbook is 33 five minute games across 10 topics, from breathing to kindness to noticing thoughts, with a 10 week plan that tells you and your nanny which card to play each week. Your tiny human builds calm, focus and the words for big feelings, all at playtime.
- Built for 2 to 8, grows with them to 12
- 5 minutes, no prep
- Same cards for you and your nanny
Two grownups, two sets of words.
It's 6:02. The nanny says "he was great today!", grabs their bag, and the door clicks shut. By 6:05 he's on the kitchen floor over the blue cup, and when you try the calm words from the podcast, he yells "But the nanny lets me!"
Nobody did anything wrong. He held it together all day, and now he's safe enough to fall apart, with two grownups using two different sets of words, he's testing which one works.
What changes with the Playbook
- You and your nanny run the same card that week, with the same words.
- Every card has an "in the moment" line, so the hard moment ends the same way whoever's home.
- A one minute recap turns "he was fine" into "we did Cool the Soup after nap, and when we had to leave the park later, it helped him calm down in a few breaths."
Learn one card, you can run them all
Every card is laid out the same way, so your nanny can open the card you played on Tuesday and pick up right where you left off. Each topic is a little ladder, so there's always a next step for every kid in the house.
Great for little ones and first tries. Belly Breathing, Freeze and Notice, Color Hunt.
Once the Starter feels easy. Cool the Soup, Mirror Me, Say It, Draw It, Move It.
For older kids or pros, up to 12. Count the Waves, Sound Map, The Helper Behind It.
Ten topics, ten superpowers
Ordered the way kids learn: body first, then the senses, then feelings, then other people, with thoughts last, once breath has warmed up the attention muscle.
Breath
- CardAges
- Belly Breathing 2+
- Cool the Soup 4+
- Count the Waves 7+
Body
- CardAges
- Ice Pop Melt 3+
- Heartbeat Hunt 5+
- Top to Toes Scan 7+
Movement
- CardAges
- Freeze and Notice 2+
- Mirror Me 4+
- Slow Motion Finish Line 6+
Sound
- CardAges
- Exploring Sound 3+
- Last Sound Standing 4+
- Sound Map 7+
Taste and Smell
- CardAges
- Exploring Taste 3+
- Mystery Smells 4+
- First Sip 7+
Look and Nature
- CardAges
- Color Hunt 2+
- Tiny World 5+
- My Sit Spot 7+
Feelings
- CardAges
- Feelings Faces 2+
- Say It, Draw It, Move It 4+
- Two Feelings at Once 8+
- Extra: Feeling Volume 5+
Kindness
- CardAges
- Send a Hug 3+
- Exploring Kindness 4+
- Kind to Me 7+
- Extra: Secret Kindness Mission 5+
Gratitude
- CardAges
- Thank You Hunt 4+
- Thank You Note 5+
- The Helper Behind It 8+
Focus and Thoughts
- CardAges
- One Thing Only 5+
- Glass Bottom Boat 7+
- What Kind of Thought? 9+
- Extra: Look Again 5+
Two kids? Same topic, different card. Run the Starter with the little one and the Advanced card with the big one, side by side, same words.
One 66 page PDF, easy to find your way around
Print the pages you need, or keep it on your phone.
- A welcome and why mindfulness matters
- Nanny's start here page, one page to forward to your nanny
- How to make it stick, little habits that help
- If they say no, what to try instead
- Identifying our why and our goals, to fill in together
- Your 10 week plan, one topic a week
- Find it by moment: car, bath, bedtime, hard moments
- 33 Playbook Cards across 10 topics
- A Starter, Builder and Advanced card in every topic
- Easier and harder lines on every card, ages 2 to 12
- Print cards, every card again, four to a page
- Hard moments cheat sheet for the fridge
- 10 week tracker and a practice calendar
- Recap logs for whoever's home
- For the kids: a superpower map, a short journal, make your own card
- Round two, for after week 10
Your first week, step by step
The PDF lands in your inbox the moment you check out. Here's how the first week goes.
Forward one page
Send your nanny the Nanny's start here page and print week one, one copy for the fridge and one for their bag.
Decide once, together
Fill in your why and your goals with your nanny: what you'd love to see, and which everyday moment you'll play on.
Belly Breathing
Whoever's home runs it on its best moment, after nap, in the car or at bedtime, then leaves a recap.
Three times, same card
Repeating beats rushing. When a hard moment shows up, use the card's "in the moment" line.
One topic a week
Follow the plan, and on weekends let your kid pick a favorite from any week so far.
Gentle changes that grow with practice
Wiggly and giggly. That's normal, keep it light and come back to it.
They know the cards by name. Say "cool the soup" and they know the game, with you or with your nanny.
Tools to ride the wave. Big feelings still come. The goal is that they feel they have something to reach for when the big feelings arrive.
A handful of favorites they ask for, and recaps that show you and your nanny what's working.
These life skills are learned through play, and they grow with practice. If you're worried about your child's mental health, your pediatrician is the right first call.
Five minutes, a few times a week
Pick one moment you already have, like the car or bedtime, and run this week's card there three times. Kids resist at first, and repetition is what makes it stick. Missed a day? Pick right back up.
Built for both of you
Parenting accounts hand mom a script, and nanny courses hand the nanny a certificate. This hands both of you the same game plan you can follow, without putting any extra work on your plates.
For the parent
Decide once on your why and your goals, then read the recap at dinner and pick the thread right back up on the days you weren't home.
For the nanny
No inventing something at 3pm. Open this week's card, run the Play, ask the questions already written out, and leave a one minute note.
For the tiny human
Learning new skills at playtime, with a superpower map to color in and the chance to teach a card back to their grownup.
Every choice comes from the research
We did the research so you don't have to.
Kids under 12 respond well
Across 32 studies with 3,640 children, mindfulness practice helped attention, handling emotions and behavior, and getting along with others.
The grownups matter too
When parents learn mindfulness too, parenting stress drops and kids' outcomes improve.
Habits ride on routines
Habits form by repeating something on the same everyday cue, and missing a day didn't break them. So every card names its best moment.
I wrote the plan I wish someone had handed me.
Hi, I'm Paulette. Before any of this, I was the one in the room, nannying for a family whose girls I loved like my own. I spent years of their most impressionable days with them, and most afternoons I was improvising, hoping whatever we landed on counted for something. What I noticed, eventually, is that the small things stuck the most. A few slow breaths before a hard moment. Noticing a sound outside instead of rushing past it. Tasting something on purpose instead of inhaling it between activities. I never called them lessons, and they picked it up anyway.
As a youth leadership coach across three different continents, I realized that I had the resources to help others bypass the struggles I went through. The Mindfulness Playbook are my notes of coaching and nannying blended together. It's the plan I wanted on the afternoons I was improvising, and it's written so anyone can pick it up where it left off.
A nanny and a family who are genuinely aligned, working from the same playbook, is rarer than it should be. Nannies want to do more than just get through the day. Parents want to know their kids are learning and growing in the hours they're not there. That's what this is for, and I hope you love it as much as I have loved working on it!
Paulette
What the full Playbook adds
| The mini | The full Playbook | |
|---|---|---|
| Playbook Cards | 3 | 33, across 10 topics |
| Ages | 2 to 12 | 2 to 12, a Starter, Builder and Advanced card in every topic |
| Plan | 7 days | 10 weeks, one topic a week, plus a round two |
| For your nanny | Recaps | Nanny's start here page, recap logs, 10 week tracker |
| For hard moments | One "in the moment" line per card | A hard moments cheat sheet and an "if they say no" page |
| For the kids | Superpower map, journal, make your own card, teach it back | |
| Print cards | Every card, four to a page |
Before you buy
How much time does it take?
About five minutes, three times a week, riding on something you already do like the car, snack or bedtime. Plus a one minute recap after each one.
Do I need a nanny for this to make sense?
No. It's built so two grownups can run the same plan, whether that's a nanny, a partner, a grandparent or a sitter. Everything works with one grownup and their kids too.
What ages is it for?
Built for 2 to 8, and it grows with them to 12. Every card lists a starting age, plus a "littles" line to make it easier and a "bigs" line to make it harder.
What if my kid says no?
Totally normal. There's a whole page for it: offer a choice of two cards, go first yourself, make it move, shrink it down to one breath, or try a different moment.
Is it a printed book?
It's a PDF you get the moment you check out. Open it on your phone or print the pages you need at home. No login and no subscription.
One plan, whoever's home
- 33 five minute Playbook Cards across 10 topics, ages 2 to 12
- A 10 week plan and a Nanny's start here page
- Identifying our why and our goals, recap logs, tracker, cheat sheet and print cards
- Open it on your phone or print it as often as you like
Secure checkout through Stripe, card or Apple Pay. The PDF and a receipt land in your inbox right away. Questions first? info@thenannyplaybook.com