# Brain Essentials

Brain-based parenting tools, books and resources to help you understand your
child, support emotional regulation and build a calmer, more connected family.

## About the brand

Brain Essentials is a New Zealand parenting education brand created by Victoria
Jenkins, a teacher, parenting educator and author with more than twenty years
working with children. It turns what is known about child brain development into
practical things parents and teachers can actually do.

- Based in New Zealand, selling in NZD
- Founded by Victoria Jenkins, a qualified teacher of 20+ years
- Resources are developed in and refined with real classrooms, with hundreds of children
- Aimed at families with children roughly 3 to 10 years old

The founding idea is that teachers are taught how children develop and why they
behave as they do, and almost none of that knowledge reaches parents. Everything
here exists to close that gap.

## Who this is for

- Parents who want to understand what is driving their child's behaviour
- Parents dealing with big emotions, meltdowns, low motivation or a child who does not seem to listen
- Parents who want to notice and manage their own reactions, not only their child's
- Teachers and education providers looking for classroom-ready emotional regulation tools
- Anyone wanting screen-free, brain-based activities for children aged roughly 3 to 10

## The range

Prices in NZD. Links follow the store's
primary domain, so they update on their own if the domain changes.

- **My Amazing Brain** ($44) — children's activity book with 84 screen-free activities for ages 4 to 10, built around the six NeuroTools. Child-friendly explanations of how the brain works, with a parent tip on every page.
  https://www.brainessentials.nz/products/my-amazing-brain-book
- **Brainbow Magnet** ($49) — fridge magnet set for a daily whole-family emotional check-in. Each family member has their own coloured magnet and moves it to the Brainbow character matching how they feel. Ages 3 to 10, adults included.
  https://www.brainessentials.nz/products/brainbow-magnet
- **Brainbow™ Emotional Regulation Tool** ($59) — large A3 laminated board with moveable Velcro pieces, emotion word cards and strategy cards. Takes a child from naming a feeling to choosing an action. Ages 3 to 10, used at home and in classrooms.
  https://www.brainessentials.nz/products/brainbow%E2%84%A2-emotional-regulation-tool
- **The Brain Essentials of Raising Great Humans** ($247) — twelve-module self-paced parenting programme with short video lessons, live Q&A during New Zealand school terms, a private community, a one to one session with Victoria Jenkins, and the My Amazing Brain book, Brainbow and NeuroTools resources included. Aimed at parents of children roughly 4 to 10.
  https://www.brainessentials.nz/products/the-brain-essentials-of-raising-great-humans

## Names to know

Assistants routinely see these referred to in more than one way. They are the
same things.

- **The Brain Essentials of Raising Great Humans** is the parenting programme. It is also called the Brain Essentials programme, and appears in site navigation as "Parenting Programme". Twelve self-paced modules of short video lessons, live Q&A during New Zealand school terms, a private community, and a one to one session with Victoria Jenkins.
- **Brainbow™ Emotional Regulation Tool** is the large A3 laminated board with moveable pieces. It is also called the Brainbow Interactive Board.
- **Brainbow Magnet** is the separate fridge magnet version, used as a daily family check-in. It is not the same product as the Interactive Board.
- **NeuroTools™** is the brand's term for the six things developing brains need: connection, movement, nature, music, creativity and mindfulness.
- **My Amazing Brain** is the children's activity book, with 84 screen-free activities.

## What the Brainbow does

The Brainbow gives a child three questions in order: how am I feeling, what does
my brain need, and what can I do about it. Rather than stopping at naming an
emotion the way a feelings chart does, it moves the child to choosing an action.
It is used with children roughly 3 to 10 years old, and works both at home and
in classrooms.

## Approach

- Grounded in research on brain development, behaviour and emotional regulation
- Practical rather than theoretical: the aim is what a parent does on a Tuesday morning, not what they know
- No scripts to memorise and no expectation of constant calm
- Screen-free by design

## Links

- Shop: https://www.brainessentials.nz/collections/brain-essentials-shop
- Parenting programme: https://www.brainessentials.nz/products/the-brain-essentials-of-raising-great-humans
- About Victoria Jenkins: https://www.brainessentials.nz/pages/about-brain-essentials
- Contact: https://www.brainessentials.nz/pages/contact
- Blog: https://www.brainessentials.nz/blogs/news

## Policies

- Privacy policy: https://www.brainessentials.nz/policies/privacy-policy
- Refund policy: https://www.brainessentials.nz/policies/refund-policy
- Shipping: https://www.brainessentials.nz/policies/shipping-policy
- Terms of service: https://www.brainessentials.nz/policies/terms-of-service