Our story
Made by a mum, for the world our kids are growing into.
Mini Brains Trust is a simple way to grow the strengths that matter most, ten minutes of real play at a time. Here is why we made it.
Why now
The world has changed what it means to be clever.
For a long time, being clever meant knowing things. That is quietly ending. A machine can recall more than any of us and answer in a heartbeat. So what gives your child an edge is shifting towards the human strengths a screen cannot teach, the very ones it quietly wears away. Those strengths are grown slowly, through play, and ages three to five is when the ground is softest.
Who is behind it
Hi, I'm Tina. A mum, and a scrappy outback kid.
I grew up in the outback with a lot of space to roam and time to fill. I spent my days building tree houses, constructing underground forts, wandering through bulldozer cuts and finding interesting scraps to transform into a new toy. I learnt to make my own fun by fixing things and working things out for myself. These are the skills that have served me most as an adult. It taught me problem solving, to have a go, to stick at something hard, and to be resourceful when there was no easy answer to reach for.
These days I work in AI with a background in tech and writing, so I spend my time looking straight at where the world is heading. That is what makes me certain which human skills are worth protecting and nurturing in our little ones, and why I decided not to wait for school to catch up.
Mini Brains Trust is the good part of a resourceful childhood, made simple for parents who are flat out. Steady, playful practice at being a wonderfully, capably human, with whatever is already around you.
Tina, founder and mum
Who are we to build this
A brains trust of educators, with an eye on what's next.
Most learning products are made by teachers, or by technologists. This one comes from both, in the one family.
An AI educator's eye on the future
Tina works in AI for a living and comes from a tech background. Watching where technology is heading every day is exactly what tells us which human skills are worth protecting now.
A family of teachers
Tina grew up surrounded by educators: a retired schoolteacher mum, a sister teaching high school, and a sister lecturing at university. Decades of real classroom experience sit behind how this is built.
A mum, in the thick of it
Every idea is built and tested at a real kitchen table, on real three to five year olds, so it holds up when you are flat out and the witching hour hits.
What we grow
Eight little strengths, woven through everything.
Every activity is built to grow two or three of these. Problem-solving and critical thinking run all the way through.
Attention
Staying with something slow, and the patience that grows from it.
Curiosity
Asking the next question instead of taking the first answer.
Real world
Hands that know how things actually work.
Creativity
Making something new that is all their own.
Agency
Being the one who decides and makes things happen.
Connection
Reading a real face, sharing a real moment.
Discernment
Telling what's true from what only sounds true.
Sticking at it
Staying with something hard until it works.
Our promise
We will never train AI on your child.
No selling your data, no feeding it to a model, no ads chasing your kid around the internet. What happens at your kitchen table stays there. It is built into how the whole thing works, and it always will be.
Come grow a little human with us.
Join the waitlist for early access, a founding-member price, and a real say in what we build.
Thanks for backing this early. We'll be in touch before anyone else.