SnackNotes

About

Play. Make. Together.

SnackNotes is a collection of projects I make for and with my kids. My favorite projects are ones where kids can add their own creativity, while also learning something new.

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"What if dinosaurs had jobs?"

SnackNote · 118

One day, I drew a small doodle on a post-it for my daughter and stuck it on her snack box. The next day, I did it again. Then it became a habit. A quick drawing, a little joke, a tiny idea, something she would discover later in the day. It did not take long before it became our thing.

Now that both my kids are in school, SnackNotes are part of our daily rhythm. They are small, imperfect, and made by hand, and that is the point.

A SnackNote is a tiny act of creativity. A small moment of connection. A reminder that making something, even something simple, matters.

SnackNotes, the company, comes from that idea. That small, playful acts of creativity can shape how a child sees the world, and themselves.

What we believe

Three words carry the whole company. They are on the tin for a reason.

Play

At our core SnackNotes is about play. Play when directed positively increases engagement, focus, and motivation to overcome challenges.

Make

Building. Drawing. Crafting. Writing. Developing the muscles behind creativity is so important from early on. All kids have them innately when they're young, but too many lose them as they grow up. Our goal is to help kids remain the makers that they are.

Together

An anti-tech company built around technology. The technology is here to support who we are, humans in a real world. Side by side, not alone with a screen.

Why it exists

SnackNotes exists to help kids find out what they can do.

"I can do that", "I can build that", "I'm creative", "I'm a science kid". These are the phrases we like to hear.

We're here to help a kid see themselves as a creative kid, a scientist, an engineer, a writer, or all of those things.

Who is making this

Brian and his kids at the kitchen table
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You and the kids at the kitchen table, mid-project

assets/photos/brian-kids.jpg

A note from the kitchen table

Hi, I'm Brian.

I'm a dad, engineer, and part-time doodler.

SnackNotes gets its name from the literal snack notes that I make for my own kids. I've been making them every day for 7 years. A little note can create a lot of joy.

In addition to making notes, I also build many projects for and with my kiddos. Many of them are made to get them curious about the world and to help them see themselves as creative, capable people. I launched SnackNotes as a way to share some of this with you.

I hope what we make here at SnackNotes can bring a lot of joy for you.

SnackNotes is a personal project. We're a bit of a play-and-toy design lab. We make projects, develop toys, run maker classes and pop-ups, release tutorials, and build educational apps. And we share the things we love and enjoy so that other families might enjoy them too.

- Brian (Chief Tinkerer)

What we are building

A free app to start with, real things to build alongside it, and a table at the Faire in September.

The app

A notebook for iPad

Drawing, building, writing, and a globe, in one book that keeps filling up. Free, with new pages arriving over time.

Kits

Things to build

Zoetropes, drawing machines, brush bots. Paper and cardboard first, written up so a kitchen table can handle it.

Blotlings

A puppet my daughter designed

Silicone, castable at home, and slowly becoming a character in its own right.

Sept 25 to 27

Bay Area Maker Faire

Come and make something with us! We'll have several of the projects we've built over the years as well as a demo of a new app for creative kids.

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