An open teal The Play Way box with the Self-Care Skills Play Kit contents arranged above it: Melo shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion bottles, a green and light blue striped hanging toiletry bag, a sensory hair brush, a scalp massager, a Bath Memory Emotions game, toothbrushes and toothpastes, floss picks, hair ties, sunscreen, the Willy picture book, the Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner and the instruction cards.
A girl and an adult lean over a wooden table together while the girl places a picture magnet onto a Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner, headed India's Daily Planner in handwriting, with a whiteboard marker beside it.
A boy grins into the bathroom mirror while brushing with a white electric toothbrush.
Three children and an adult gather around a cardboard box packed with teal tissue paper, unpacking the play kit. One child holds the teal scalp massager in both hands while another leans in over the box, and the adult holds up The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum.
Three children sit together on a sofa reading The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum, the middle child holding the book open across their lap.
A girl sits applying sunscreen to an upper arm with a yellow and white Solar Buddies roll-on sponge applicator, blobs of sunscreen still unrubbed on the skin.
A girl sits cross-legged on the floor holding up an open teal hanging toiletry organiser, its mesh pockets filled with hair ties, a spray bottle and a small pot.
An open teal The Play Way box with the Self-Care Skills Play Kit contents arranged above it: Melo shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion bottles, a green and light blue striped hanging toiletry bag, a sensory hair brush, a scalp massager, a Bath Memory Emotions game, toothbrushes and toothpastes, floss picks, hair ties, sunscreen, the Willy picture book, the Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner and the instruction cards.
A girl and an adult lean over a wooden table together while the girl places a picture magnet onto a Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner, headed India's Daily Planner in handwriting, with a whiteboard marker beside it.
A boy grins into the bathroom mirror while brushing with a white electric toothbrush.
Three children and an adult gather around a cardboard box packed with teal tissue paper, unpacking the play kit. One child holds the teal scalp massager in both hands while another leans in over the box, and the adult holds up The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum.
Three children sit together on a sofa reading The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum, the middle child holding the book open across their lap.
A girl sits applying sunscreen to an upper arm with a yellow and white Solar Buddies roll-on sponge applicator, blobs of sunscreen still unrubbed on the skin.
A girl sits cross-legged on the floor holding up an open teal hanging toiletry organiser, its mesh pockets filled with hair ties, a spray bottle and a small pot.
An open teal The Play Way box with the Self-Care Skills Play Kit contents arranged above it: Melo shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion bottles, a green and light blue striped hanging toiletry bag, a sensory hair brush, a scalp massager, a Bath Memory Emotions game, toothbrushes and toothpastes, floss picks, hair ties, sunscreen, the Willy picture book, the Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner and the instruction cards.
A girl and an adult lean over a wooden table together while the girl places a picture magnet onto a Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner, headed India's Daily Planner in handwriting, with a whiteboard marker beside it.
A boy grins into the bathroom mirror while brushing with a white electric toothbrush.
Three children and an adult gather around a cardboard box packed with teal tissue paper, unpacking the play kit. One child holds the teal scalp massager in both hands while another leans in over the box, and the adult holds up The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum.
Three children sit together on a sofa reading The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum, the middle child holding the book open across their lap.
A girl sits applying sunscreen to an upper arm with a yellow and white Solar Buddies roll-on sponge applicator, blobs of sunscreen still unrubbed on the skin.
A girl sits cross-legged on the floor holding up an open teal hanging toiletry organiser, its mesh pockets filled with hair ties, a spray bottle and a small pot.
An open teal The Play Way box with the Self-Care Skills Play Kit contents arranged above it: Melo shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion bottles, a green and light blue striped hanging toiletry bag, a sensory hair brush, a scalp massager, a Bath Memory Emotions game, toothbrushes and toothpastes, floss picks, hair ties, sunscreen, the Willy picture book, the Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner and the instruction cards.
A girl and an adult lean over a wooden table together while the girl places a picture magnet onto a Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner, headed India's Daily Planner in handwriting, with a whiteboard marker beside it.
A boy grins into the bathroom mirror while brushing with a white electric toothbrush.
Three children and an adult gather around a cardboard box packed with teal tissue paper, unpacking the play kit. One child holds the teal scalp massager in both hands while another leans in over the box, and the adult holds up The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum.
Three children sit together on a sofa reading The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum, the middle child holding the book open across their lap.
A girl sits applying sunscreen to an upper arm with a yellow and white Solar Buddies roll-on sponge applicator, blobs of sunscreen still unrubbed on the skin.
A girl sits cross-legged on the floor holding up an open teal hanging toiletry organiser, its mesh pockets filled with hair ties, a spray bottle and a small pot.

Self-Care Skills Play Kit

The Play Way
Regular price $197.00
Sale price $197.00 Regular price $0.00
Unit price
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Support your child to take care of their own body, teeth, hair, washing and sunscreen, with enough options curated in one box that they can find what works for their needs, and give them the words to tell you when something does not.

This play kit was curated by our therapy team, so instead of one toothbrush there are several, the hair and body range was specifically developed to be sensory and developmentally friendly, and the magnetic planner lets your child build their own morning and evening plan to give them some autonomy and a sense of independence. Made for families where what looks like self-care resistance has a deeper reason behind it.
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An open teal The Play Way box with the Self-Care Skills Play Kit contents arranged above it: Melo shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion bottles, a green and light blue striped hanging toiletry bag, a sensory hair brush, a scalp massager, a Bath Memory Emotions game, toothbrushes and toothpastes, floss picks, hair ties, sunscreen, the Willy picture book, the Self-Care Buddy magnetic planner and the instruction cards.

Self-Care Skills Play Kit

Regular price $197.00
Sale price $197.00 Regular price $0.00
Unit price

WHAT'S INSIDE

What's in this play kit

A full kit of self-care tools, curated to work together.
Self-Care Buddy

Self-Care Buddy

A magnetic whiteboard with self-care magnets, two visual timers and markers. Your child builds their own morning and evening plan, choosing what goes on it and in what order, so it is theirs to follow rather than yours to keep reminding them about.
Jack N' Jill Brush set

Jack N' Jill Brush set

Five toothbrushes, each one in the box for a different reason. A small soft bristle brush with a thin handle, a larger soft bristle one, the Buzzy Brush that plays music for as long as brushing should take, a silicone brush that slips over a finger for a child who cannot bear bristles, and a double sided one they bite down on instead of scrubbing. Your child tries them and picks, and the one they pick is the one that gets used.
Jack N' Jill Toothpaste tubes

Jack N' Jill Toothpaste tubes

Several toothpastes in different flavours. Toothpaste is one of the most common reasons brushing turns into a fight, so there are real alternatives here to work through until your child finds one they can live with.
Biodegradable Floss Picks

Biodegradable Floss Picks

Floss picks that are far easier for small hands to hold than a length of floss wound around two fingers. We love these for the children who want to floss but cannot yet get their hands to do it.
Tooth Sparkles Chews

Tooth Sparkles Chews

Chewable tablets for the days when a toothbrush is just not going to happen. Having a fallback keeps the overwhelm from turning into a battle, and it keeps your child in the habit of caring for their teeth on the hard days too.
Melo self-care products

Melo self-care products

Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body lotion and a detangling spray, all organic, cruelty free and free of parabens and sulphates. Gentle on skin and light on smell, which matters more than people expect for a child who notices everything.
Sensory hair brush

Sensory hair brush

Flexible, widely spaced bristles that glide instead of pulling. We love this one for when hairbrushing genuinely hurts.
A variety of hair ties

A variety of hair ties

Hair ties in different textures, sizes and tensions, so your child can work out what they can tolerate on their head all day, and ask for that one.
Scalp Therapy Massager

Scalp Therapy Massager

Used on the scalp before brushing, to warm the head up to being touched. The firm pressure it gives is calming rather than tickly, and going in with it first often means the brush is tolerated when it otherwise would not have been.
Dewy+Lewy Skincare GD2GO Sunscreen

Dewy+Lewy Skincare GD2GO Sunscreen

A clip-on sunscreen that lives on the school bag, so it is wherever your child is rather than in the bathroom at home.
Solar Buddies Sunscreen Applicator

Solar Buddies Sunscreen Applicator

A refillable applicator with a roller ball set into a sponge head, so sunscreen goes on evenly without ending up all over their hands. We love this for the children who cannot stand the feel of sunscreen, and for the ones who can do it themselves the moment they are not fighting the texture.
The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum

The Adventures of Willy and his Sunburnt Bum

A picture book about sun safety that children actually want read to them. Understanding why a task matters is what turns it from something being done to them into something they choose.
Bathroom Organiser + Mirror

Bathroom Organiser + Mirror

Keeps everything your child needs out where they can see it, which is often the reason a task does not get started. The mirror lets them check their own work instead of asking whether they got it all.
Toiletry Organiser Bag

Toiletry Organiser Bag

A hanging bag with their things in it, packed the way they want it. It travels to sleepovers and holidays, and it gives your child something that is consistent and they have ownership over.
Bath Memory: Emotions

Bath Memory: Emotions

A waterproof memory game for the bath, with faces and feelings on the cards. Bath time stops being only a task to get through, and there is something to talk about while you are in there.
Visual instruction cards

Visual instruction cards

Step by step cards for each routine, in pictures and words, one per task. Your child follows the card instead of following your voice, so they can grab it and work through it pretty independently.
Parent Guide

Parent Guide

A short guide for you (the adult), covering what each task involves, what is reasonable to expect at different ages, and what to try when a step is not going well.

Why we built it this way

Bringing the play back

Bringing the play back

Somewhere in there the fun goes out of getting ready, usually because something in it hurts, or overwhelms, or takes too long. This box is our go at putting it back. A toothbrush that plays music, a memory game for the bath, a book about sunburn that children ask for again. The tools do the therapy work, and the play is what makes your child pick them up.
Start with two things

Start with two things

Two magnets on the board is a real starting point. Brush teeth, have a shower, and that is the whole plan for now. Your child adds more once those two are easy, which keeps them working just above what they can already do and always finishing. That is the whole idea behind the board, and it is why it comes with more magnets than any child should start with.
Words for the bit that went wrong

Words for the bit that went wrong

Water too hot, water too cold, toothpaste that burns, a tag on the towel. Children often cannot name any of that while it is happening, so it arrives as a refusal instead. The instruction cards and the videos give them the steps and the words, so later, when everyone is calm, they can tell you which bit was the problem and you can fix that bit.

INCLUDED WITH YOUR PLAY KIT

The videos that come with it

Everything in the kit is ready to use from the day it arrives, so your child can get straight into unpacking it and working out what they like. There is close to five hours of video in the Hub, across five areas: teeth, hair care, washing hair, showering and bathing, and body care including sunscreen. Most of it is spoken to your child rather than to you: one of our occupational therapists walks them through each task at their own pace, with the instruction card on screen, so they can follow along and stop when they want to. There is a separate video for you on each area, covering how to set it up, and what to try when a step is not going well. We'll send your invitation to access it all when your kit ships.

WHO THIS PLAY KIT IS FOR

If getting ready looks like this

  • Getting ready takes twice as long as it should, because I am the one talking them through every single step.
  • They want to do it themselves, and I do not know how to hand it over.
  • Certain textures and smells are genuinely too much for them, and I have run out of things to try.
If any of that sounds like your house, this is who we built the play kit for.

Who made this

Kait is an OT. She has been working with children and families for nearly 20 years, and she has four kids of her own. She built this play kit because self-care is where a lot of families get stuck, and it is rarely because a child will not do it. It is that the toothbrush is wrong, or the shampoo smells, or nobody has shown them the steps in an order they can hold onto. All of those are fixable, and they are fixable at home. The Self-Care Buddy planner, the instruction cards and the videos were developed by our therapy team, so your child has something they can look at and follow, and so the conversation afterwards can be about what was tricky and what would help, rather than about whether they did it.
  • 5,000+
    Australian children have used our play kits
  • 20 years
    of Kait working with children and families

Frequently asked questions

What comes in a play kit?

What age is this play kit for?

Do I have to watch the videos?

How do I get to the videos?

How long will it take to arrive?

What if something is not right?

What if there is a medical reason behind what we are seeing?