Playful Connections Sandtray Institute

06/04/2026

06/03/2026

🦇 I wasn't planning to spend my week obsessively refreshing subscription numbers, but here we are. 🦇

Holy smokes, Batman.

You all are making Mama work for that nurse paycheck. 😂🐻💜

Watching the Bear Cub community grow has been amazing, and I love seeing therapists get excited about miniatures, symbolism, sensory tools, and yes...

🐉 Dragon eggs. 🐉

Because apparently we can take the therapist out of the fandom, but we can't take the fandom out of the therapist.

When Mama and I first started talking about this subscription, we hoped a few people would think it was a fun idea.

Instead, we're watching Bear Cubs from all over claim their spots, and it has been such a joy to see.

So to everyone who has already joined us...

💜 Thank you.
💜 Thank you for believing in this crazy idea.
💜 Thank you for helping us build this community.

And to everyone still thinking about it...

The dragon eggs are waiting.

🐉 DRACARYS! 🐉

Now let's see how many states we can reach before enrollment closes. 👀🐻💜

06/01/2026

Mama’s Monthly Miniature box is finally available!!

🌟 Miniature Monday Special Announcement 🌟

Something NEW has arrived at Serendipity Sand & Play Shop... and we are SO excited to finally announce it!

💜 Mama's Monthly Minis opens for enrollment TODAY! 💜

Something NEW has arrived at Serendipity Sand & Play Shop... and we are SO excited to finally share it!

The wait is over...

**Mama's Monthly Minis is officially OPEN for enrollment!**

Beginning today, you can reserve your spot in our brand-new monthly subscription created especially for sandtray and play therapists.

Each month, you'll receive a thoughtfully curated themed box featuring:

✨ 5 themed miniatures
✨ 1 sensory or fidget item
✨ 1 special self-care item from Mama
✨ Symbolism and theme resources
✨ Subscription-exclusive creations and colors

For our inaugural launch, we are opening only **50 Founding Member spots**.

💜 Enrollment is open June 1–15
💜 Founding Member price: **$39/month**
💜 Lock in your Founding Member price FOREVER as long as you remain subscribed
💜 Become one of Mama's original Bear Cubs
💜 Enrollment will not reopen until December
💜 Future enrollment periods will be offered at a higher price

Once all 50 spots are filled, enrollment will close.

This has been a labor of love for our family, and we are so excited to finally launch Mama's Monthly Minis. We can't wait to send meaningful miniatures, therapeutic symbolism, and a little bit of joy straight to your mailbox each month.

When you join, you're not just subscribing to a box—you're becoming part of **Mama's Bear Cubs**, a community of therapists who love symbolism, creativity, and filling their therapy rooms with meaningful treasures.

💜 Curated with Heart.
💜 Delivered with Love.
💜 From Mama to You.

Ready to become one of our 50 Founding Members and Mama's first Bear Cubs?

Sign up here:
https://serendipitysand.shop/products/mama-s-monthly-miniatures

🐻 Mama's Bear Cubs are gathering—come claim your spot before the den is full! 💜

💜

05/25/2026

Today we remember and honor the courageous men and women who sacrificed for our freedom. Memorial Day is also a reminder to cherish the simple joys of connection, laughter, and time together with those we love. Wishing your family a safe and meaningful holiday. 🇺🇸❤️

05/23/2026

This one is exciting!!! Special Minis shipped straight to the house every month!!

✨ FEATURE FRIDAY ✨

Something BIG is coming in tiny form… 💜

We are so excited to officially introduce Mama’s Monthly Miniatures — a brand new therapist-focused subscription designed for sandtray therapists, play therapists, and helpers who know the power symbolism can hold.

Each monthly box will include:
✨ 5 curated miniatures
✨ Subscription-exclusive designs
✨ A sensory/regulation support item
✨ “Mama’s Nurture Item” for therapist self-care
✨ Therapist prompts & inspiration tied to each month’s theme

And because we want this to stay intentional and personal…
💜 Founding Member enrollment opens June 1st
💜 Only 50 spots available
💜 Introductory rate locked at $39/month for Founding Members

We shared all the details, heart, and vision behind this new adventure on today’s blog. 👀

🔗 https://serendipitysand.shop/blogs/news/introducing-mama-s-monthly-miniatures-%F0%9F%92%9C

Stay tuned… Mama is getting ready to send some love to her bear cubs. 🧸💜

05/21/2026

This is your time!!!

Help Shape the Future of Sandtray Therapy

The International Association for Sandtray Therapy is growing, and we’re looking for passionate professionals who want to be part of the vision, planning, and heart behind our organization.

We’re expanding our committees and would love to connect with members who are interested in helping support and shape the future of IAST through collaboration, creativity, and leadership opportunities. 💜

Whether your strengths are in education, networking, social media, events, advocacy, membership engagement, or behind-the-scenes planning — there’s a place for you here.

If you’re interested in serving on an IAST committee, complete the interest form below:
IAST Committee Interest Form- (https://forms.gle/wMargDMr4mJYb26b6)

Together, we can continue growing the sandtray community and supporting clinicians around the world. 🌎✨

05/12/2026

Incredibly proud of Addison!!! 🥰

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there… 💜
The moms, bonus moms, grandma moms, chosen moms, dog moms, cat moms, reptile moms, and every proud furbaby parent spoiling their babies today too. 🐾🌸

Whether your little ones walk on two legs or four… today we celebrate the love, care, comfort, chaos, cuddles, and magic you give so freely every single day.

Here’s to the women keeping tiny humans, fluffy gremlins, and entire households alive with caffeine, determination, and unconditional love. 🤪✨

05/08/2026

The fact I am neurodivergent is almost the first thing out of my mouth at every intake. It is who I am. I will not hide it anymore. I spent too many years masking. Might be why a majority of my clients are also neurodivergent. 🤪🤣🤷🏻‍♀️

We recently sent out a survey to our audience to collect some of our own data and we found...

✱ 95% of neurodivergent therapists say their lived experience positively influences the way they do their job

✱ But only 16% feel comfortable disclosing their neurodivergent identity at work

✱ And a mere 5% feel the neurodiversity conversation in their field includes people like them, not just the people they serve.

A lot of neurodivergent clinicians spend their careers holding unique expertise that comes partly from lived experience, and they know that experience is valueable while also feeling they cannot safely name that lived experience out loud.

The reasons for this aren't really a mystery.

You might worry about licensing boards questioning fitness to practice, supervisors or employers having concerns or second-guessing judgment, or parents requesting a different therapist, or peers treating them differently.

There is still this quiet assumption in many settings that a "good" therapist is a regulated, neurotypical-presenting one.

While there is definitely a growing, visible, increasingly organized minority out there actively pushing for neuroaffirming care, and centering ND voices, the field as a whole is still hovering somewhere between mostly unaware and actively resistant.

What all needs to change is complex and layered.

We need to have more conversations that would actually matter for ND therapists... like what reasonable accommodations look like in a therapy clinic, how to run a caseload with an ADHD brain, what supervision looks like when the supervisee is autistic and the supervisor isn't, how to handle the sensory load of a school-based job, protecting yourself from burnout when masking is part of the job, those conversations are barely happening anywhere.

The field talks endlessly about supporting ND kids and almost never about supporting the ND adults also doing the supporting.

If you are an ND therapist (and feel comfortable) share in the comments how your lived experience makes you better at your job, or let us know what conversations you wish your field was actually having?