The Pebble Kids app is created by the Danish children’s book author and designer, René Holst.
It’s originally targeted neurodivergent families, but is a great tool for any family who is struggling with bedtime.
How it can help support a magical bedtime routine
- Calming stories narrated in a soothing, comforting expression
- Talking to senses that creates peaceful images in the mind
- Create colored lights that shift to signal wind-down time
- Natural white, brown and pink noise proven to have calming effect in especially ADHD minds
- Multiple new stories every month and the catalogue keeps growing
More supporting features coming up:
- Pictogram bedtime routines
- Clone a voice that the child loves from a family member or even you as a parent
- Social learning stories tailormade to your child using your input and AI
An app for overwhelmed families, made by a dad who has lived it himself
As a single dad with two little boys with autism (and myself having ADHD + anxiety) I struggled to create a calming bedtime routine.
Why?
Because I was utterly overwhelmed and so were my two boys often, from trying to fit in at their respective daycares and school.
With my background as a designer and author, I created an app and some characters that would help me and my kids to talk about emotions and calm down in the evenings.
I wanted my children to learn about feelings, which - when I grew up - were never accepted and talked about.
To let my children know, that it’s normal to have anxiety and struggle with executive function like putting on clothes or not feeling like they fit in.
As I learned more about the importance of routines for autistic minds, a routine builder that could help me start and guide the bedtime ritual - in a less demanding fashion - came into existence.
Based on Danish children’s books about the sensitive Pebble the Pillbug and rooted in newest research about neurodivergent traits
Here’s why Pebble Kids started out as a series of books about a pillbug with big feelers, and turned into a supporting app instead.
It’s tough to make a living as a children’s book author, so this has always been something I’ve been doing in my sparetime.
But as a turned the books into audio that could be used as bedtime stories, I realised it had a huge effect on my boys.
At the time I didn’t know that they were autistic, I just sensed that they were more sensitive. So I came up with something my boys loved and knew: Bugs. And especially pillbugs.
The characteristic of some pillbug species is that they can curl up into a ball when they are scared.
It’s a perfect symbol of anxiety and overwhelm.
Later I found out that there are SO many families such as my own, who are seriously overwhelmed at the end of the day. And a lot of parents dealing with late diagnosis of themselves after figuring out their own child has a diagnosis on the spectrum.
The stories, which ends up with reflecting questions in the particular emotions, turned out to be really great for calming down and the bug universe in it’s dark, magical forest.
Parents reported back that their children could really relate to the stories in the app. And the music together with the soft lights that illuminated the room, was super soothing.
Children actually fall asleep faster with the app
The app is not magic. It’s based on research and science.
What most sleep experts say is that routines and rituals provide comfort and eliminates stress factors.
How our bedtime routine looked before using the app
- Always late and irregular bedtimes
- Stress made us forget about peeing, brushing teeth etc.
- Overwhelm created conflicts
- Angry demands from parents created unwilling children
- Having only the same books became boring
- Bedtime was a stressful struggle which lasted 2+ hrs
Bedtime routines and rituals when using Pebble Kids app
- The child knows what is happening and feel comfort in that
- Visual pictograms makes “demands” more playful rather than a chore
- The parent feels guided and can relax
- It’s the same voice and universe but there’s always new content
- Gradually easing down from dimmedlights > story > meditative music > sound blanket
- Falling asleep is faster for most children after using it for a while
- Parents have more time in the evening
- Children are less overwhelmed and more rested the day after
Our mission is to support overwhelmed families and promote emotional intelligence in our future generations
Pebble Kids’ mission is not be an alternative to medication, but to create a support system that enables parents to create a magical bedtime routine.
As a neurodivergent parent I have felt all the struggles firsthand and I love to hear any feedback that you as a family or parent has that could improve and support you life to reduce overwhelm and stress.