About us
We make ten quiet minutes possible.
Hey Little Brain is a small studio building screen-free, Montessori-inspired printables for parents who are tired of fighting their kids onto the couch with an iPad. We don't sell screen-time apps. We don't sell subscriptions. We sell finishable pages that quietly rebuild focus, calm and confidence.
Maya Bennett
Founder · Former elementary school teacher · Mom of two
Austin, Texas
Meet the founder
Hi, I'm Maya — and I built this for my own kitchen table first.
I taught second and third grade in Austin for almost a decade before my second was born. In the classroom and at home, I kept seeing the same thing: bright, curious kids who'd lost the feeling of being capable. Worksheets felt too long. Screens felt too loud. Everything in between felt like a fight.
The Focus Kit™ started as a stack of single-page activities I made for my own two kids on a Sunday night — short enough to finish, beautiful enough to want to do, and screen-free so the after-school meltdown didn't get any louder. I set a ten-minute timer, sat down with them, and watched something I hadn't seen in months: a child finishing one thing, then asking for another.
I'm not interested in pressure, drills, or another app. Kids don't need more screens — they need small, playful wins that help them feel capable again. That's the whole brief. Every kit we ship has to pass it.
"Build focus. Boost confidence. Have fun. In that order, every time."
Maya · Founder
What we believe
Four quiet principles in everything we make.
Calm over noise
Loud apps and louder reward charts don't build focus. Slow, finishable, screen-free work does. We design for the quiet kind of progress.
Analog by design
Pencil on paper. Real scissors. Real Lego. Every activity is built to be done with the hand, away from a glowing rectangle.
Winnable, every time
Each page is short, clear, and finishable. We'd rather a child do ten minutes and beam with pride than fight through an hour and quit.
Honest economics
No subscriptions. No upsell traps. Pay once, download once, print forever. If anything goes wrong on our side, email support — a real human will reply.
How we work
Built on research. Tested in real kitchens.
Built on Montessori and developmental science
Maria Montessori's prepared environment, Adele Diamond's executive function research, Carol Dweck's mindset work, Dan Siegel's whole-brain model. Every activity has roots in research that actually replicates.
Tested in real homes
Every kit is trialled with a quiet panel of parents and kids ages 3–10 before it goes live. If it doesn't survive a Tuesday afternoon with a tired 7-year-old, it doesn't ship.
Designed by a small team
We're a tiny outfit — designers, parents, and an early-years educator. No giant agency, no influencer factory. Just careful work and direct replies when you write to us.
A promise to your family
Print The Focus Kit, use it, mess up some pages, hand it to a sibling. It's yours for life — instant access, no subscriptions, no shipping. And if anything ever goes wrong on our side, write to us. A real human will reply.