Chapter 1
The Story
Voice and self-expression
Kids write and illustrate their own First Edition and begin the GLAD Book, the story and recipe book they keep adding to.
Every child is an author
Joy and wonder can happen anywhere. And everywhere.
A keepsake creative-enrichment series for kids ages 4 to 10. Across four connected chapters, children tell stories, build, cook, explore and bring people together, while adding to a GLAD Book they keep.
Explore the experiences →Growing Up GLAD in 60 seconds
See the idea come to life.
A one-minute look at the four chapters, what children make along the way, and the joy they carry with them.
The idea
Joy isn't only something we feel. It's something we can learn to create.
Growing Up GLAD helps children find joy, connection and wonder in everyday life. No special equipment. No elaborate outings. No perfect parent required.
“My first stage was my family’s living room. I want every child to have a canvas, and permission to create.”
Lorraine Cooper, founder · Read her storyThe four chapters
Four chapters. One keepsake library.
One chapter is released once every three months, with an optional Summer Quest add-on paced across eight weeks of summer. Each builds on the last, so children keep using what they learn. Families and educators can pace it their own way.
Chapter 2
The Stage
Courage and creativity
Stories become plays. Kids build their own stage as a STEM challenge, write a script and perform when they're ready.
Your stage is ready
Chapter 3
The World Around Me
Curiosity and observation
Every place has a story. Like young anthropologists, kids use the GLAD Cam, map and passport to discover how people live, eat and celebrate nearby, and learn more about themselves along the way.
Every place has a story
Chapter 4
The Gathering
Belonging and hospitality
Kids share the stories they've collected, gather new ones and learn hosting, conversation and etiquette skills.
Make any place a place of wonder.
Product images are concept renderings. Final products may change.
How every chapter works
Five simple steps, in every box.
In every box
Everything a child needs, and a grown-up guide that's low-lift by design.
For the child
- A thoughtfully selected children's book in every chapter, connected to its theme, to grow a love of reading and storytelling.
- Real tools to keep and reuse, from the GLAD Cam to the stage.
- Activities for every step: Notice, Imagine, Make, Share, Gather.
- Keepsakes they create, plus a badge that names the skill they grew. Sharing and performing are always optional.
- Two age bands, 4 to 6 and 7 to 10, so every child can tell, draw or write.
For the grown-up
- Designed to be low-prep: simple prompts and conversation starters, with no teaching expertise required.
- Time and prep labels on every activity: 10, 20 or 30 to 45 minutes.
- A facilitation guide with easy ways to join in for a few minutes or the whole activity.
- Household substitutions, so nothing extra has to be bought.
What it all builds toward
A child who knows how to create joy wherever they are.
By the last chapter they have a keepsake GLAD Book of their stories and recipes, a play they performed, a passport of places explored, and skills they'll use for life. Along the way: STEM challenges, movement, mindfulness and deeper moments with the people they trust, and with themselves.
Made for every kind of childhood
Enriching for every child, and built so no child is left out.
At home
- Families at home
- Homeschool families
- Gift givers and grandparents
In classrooms and programs
- Classrooms
- Libraries
- Park districts
- After-school and summer programs
Through life's changes
- Families in medical treatment
- Families in transition
- Kids on the move, with JOY To Go
Wonder shouldn't depend on a budget or address.Give One purchases and Founding Partners send chapters to kids who need them.
Two age bands4 to 6 and 7 to 10. Kids can tell, draw or write.
Designed for accessBuilt with different abilities, sensory needs, diets and languages in mind, with adapted editions where there’s need.
JOY To GoA portable pouch for kids in treatment, in transition or without a place to keep a box.
Where we are
We're building it in the open.
DesignShaping the first chapters now, with feedback from educators and parents.
PrototypeA Chapter 1 sample this winter.
PilotAbout 90 children in three settings, spring 2027.
LaunchChapter 1 opens to families, schools and programs, fall 2027.
Why now
Childhood needs room for possibility.
Children need opportunities to imagine, create, explore and connect. Yet not every family has easy access to enrichment, and many parents are looking for meaningful experiences that don’t require elaborate preparation or expensive outings.
Tap any line to see the source, the year and who was surveyed.
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Children 8 and under average about two and a half hours of screen media a day. Hands-on play gives them a different kind of time: to notice, imagine and make with their own hands.
Common Sense Media, The 2025 Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Zero to Eight. U.S. parents of children 0 to 8. See the source
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Stories help children find their voice. A book in every chapter, and a story of their own to write, keeps them in children’s lives.
National Assessment of Educational Progress, Long-Term Trend, 2022. U.S. 9-year-olds. See the source
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Belonging is built in small, shared moments, at a table, on a stage or on a walk around the block.
C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, September 2024. U.S. parents of children 6 to 12. See the source
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Kyung Hee Kim’s analysis of about 300,000 Torrance test results found scores rose until 1990, then declined, with the largest drop among younger children. Researchers continue to debate what drives the trend.
Kyung Hee Kim, “The Creativity Crisis,” Creativity Research Journal, 2011. U.S. children and adults, kindergarten through adulthood. See the source
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That compares with 26% of other adults. Family experiences have to be manageable, which is why every activity is low-prep and labeled by time.
U.S. Surgeon General advisory, Parents Under Pressure, August 2024. U.S. parents. See the source
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Many move often, stay with other families or live in shelters and motels. JOY To Go is designed so the experience can go wherever they go.
National Center for Homeless Education, Student Homelessness in America, 2020–21 to 2022–23. U.S. public school students, pre-K to grade 12. See the source
Children need room to imagine, make and share, and a grown-up beside them.
Enter Growing Up GLAD.
A keepsake creative experience for kids, aimed at unlocking joy and wonder anywhere and everywhere.
Our experiences
Every chapter is a world to step into.
Four chapters, released once every three months, with an optional Summer Quest add-on paced across eight weeks of summer. Each one has a thoughtfully selected children's book, real tools to keep, activities for every step, and a badge. By the end, kids have built their own keepsake library.
Concept designs. Final products may change.
Chapter 1 · Voice and self-expression
The Story
Every child is an author
Story dice, character cards and a Hidden Chapter help kids dream up a story, and younger kids tell it in pictures. Then they open the tray and find a blank hardcover with their name on it: their First Edition. It's the start of the GLAD Book they'll keep adding to.
They earn the Author badgeIt marks voice and self-expression: they turned their own idea into a finished story, told, drawn or written.
Chapter 2 · Courage and creativity
The Stage
Your stage is ready
The story from Chapter 1 becomes a play. Kids build their own stage as a STEM challenge, write a script, make the puppets and perform when they're ready, again and again with new twists.
They earn the Playwright badgeIt marks courage and creativity: they built a stage, wrote a script and brought it to life. Performing is always optional.
Chapter 3 · Curiosity and observation
The World Around Me
Every place has a story
Like young anthropologists, kids explore with a treasure map, a passport, Field Notes and the GLAD Cam, a simple wooden viewfinder for framing what they notice. They discover how people live, eat and celebrate nearby. They notice the sounds of their street, the people who make them smile and the places that feel calm, and they learn more about themselves along the way.
They earn the Anthropologist badgeIt marks curiosity and observation: they noticed how people live, eat and celebrate nearby, and what that says about who they are.
Chapter 4 · Belonging and hospitality
The Gathering
Make any place a place of wonder.
Kids share the stories they've collected, gather new ones and learn hosting, conversation and etiquette skills. They plan and host a gathering for the people they love, and start a GLAD Tradition to keep going.
They earn the Host badgeIt marks belonging and hospitality: they planned a gathering, welcomed their guests and kept the conversation going.
Optional summer add-on
Summer Quest
Eight weeks of guided exploration and adventure
An optional add-on: a bonus fifth chapter for summer.
Weekly quests take kids outside and further into their world, with a season-long map mystery that slowly reveals a hidden treasure.
They earn the Adventurer badgeIt marks independence and confidence: they explored somewhere new each week and finished all eight quests.
For classrooms and communities
The same experience, wherever kids are.
JOY Lab
The group edition, with a facilitator guide, for schools, libraries, park districts and after-school programs.
JOY To Go
The complete Growing Up GLAD experience, thoughtfully adapted into a portable pouch for children in treatment, in transition or without a reliable place to store a keepsake box.
Workshops and events
In-person chapter kickoffs, pop-ups and showcases, plus program licenses for camps and organizations.
Questions
What grown-ups ask first
What ages is it for?
Kids 4 to 10, in two bands: 4 to 6 and 7 to 10. Every activity can be told, drawn or written.
Do kids have to perform or read aloud?
No. Sharing is always an invitation. A child can earn the Author badge without reading aloud, and the Playwright badge without performing for an audience.
How often do chapters arrive?
One chapter is released once every three months, with an optional Summer Quest add-on paced across eight weeks of summer. You can pace it your own way.
How much grown-up time does it take?
Every activity is labeled 10, 20 or 30 to 45 minutes, and the guide shows easy ways to join in for a few minutes or the whole time.
When can we get it?
First experiences arrive in 2027. Join the early-access list to hear first and to be considered as a founding family.
Is it safe?
Every product will be tested to U.S. children's product safety standards before it's sold.
Is this therapy?
No. Growing Up GLAD is creative enrichment, not a clinical service.
A note from our founder
My first stage was my family’s living room.
My first stage was the bare, high-pile carpet of my family's living room in the late '80s. The room sat empty for a few weeks, between the old furniture leaving and the new delivery arriving, and I made those weeks glorious. That carpet became my canvas. With a broom handle, a spatula handle and sometimes just my finger for the finer details, I drew entire landscapes into the high pile: beaches, mountains, trees I could sit under. Then I staged never-ending epic adventures across it, inviting my parents and siblings to join in whenever they could.
That carpet gave me the confidence to find a bigger room. And so I did. At my grandmother's dinner parties, I'd wrap myself in her fancy fringed shawls and dangly jewelry, pull a high stool in from the back porch, climb on top and entertain the room. Sometimes I'd sing, and sometimes I'd tell a story. Her sisters were her real co-hosts, but I appointed myself one anyway. I busied myself with jobs I'd assigned myself, and when they let me, I refilled drinks, set the table, helped prep the food and taste-tested everything. I didn't know it then, but I was practicing. When the adults around me saw my interests, they encouraged me to use my voice, and that's where I found the best parts of myself.
I realized that what I had been practicing on that carpet wasn't just imagination. It was learning to see possibility, give an idea a form, find my voice and invite others into something I'd created. Those are the experiences I want more children to have.
That voice carried me further than I ever imagined. The curiosity, storytelling and confidence I practiced on that carpet helped me build a career leading partnerships alongside some of the largest consumer brands in North America and Europe. They're what I draw on every day as a founder.
Today, my young daughters remind me what self-expression and creativity unlocked in me. So I build open canvases into every part of our lives: microphones, a story bowl, and pass-a-line stories that grow more wonderfully ridiculous with every turn.
That's what Growing Up GLAD is for. Each chapter builds on the last. Children learn to tell their stories and share them out loud, to build things with their own hands, to welcome people to their table, and to explore on their own. And every box gives grown-ups simple, low-lift tools to help their child discover the joys that will fill their lives, today and tomorrow.
Every child deserves a canvas and permission to create.
Lorraine Cooper, Founder
About Lorraine
Founder, brand builder and author.
Lorraine Cooper has spent her career developing major brand partnerships and bringing new commercial experiences to market, alongside some of the largest and most influential consumer brands in North America and Europe. She founded The JOY Cooperage, named for the craft in her name: a cooper builds vessels that hold what’s precious. Growing Up GLAD is its first experience for children. She is the author of the upcoming book JOY for Broken People.
What we believe
Every place has a story.A box, a walk, a kitchen table.
Kids are the authors.We give them the tools, and they make the story.
Every child gets the same wonder.No golden tickets and no one left out.
Grown-ups don't have to be perfect.They just have to show up.
Joy is a skill.And skills grow with practice.
Creative play, not therapy.Growing Up GLAD is creative enrichment, not a clinical service.
How we build
Reviewed first.Educators, practitioners and parents review every chapter for language, age fit, safety and belonging.
Tested for safety.Every product meets U.S. children's product safety standards before it's sold.
Made to adapt.Designed with different abilities, sensory needs, diets and languages in mind.
Built in the open.We share the journey as we go, from first sketch to first box.
Part of The JOY Cooperage
A cooper builds vessels that hold what’s precious.
The JOY Cooperage builds experiences that hold joy. It’s the umbrella brand for a family of audience experiences that unlock internal joy, and Growing Up GLAD is its first for children. In her upcoming book, JOY for Broken People, Lorraine shares her personal story and how we can all find joy despite external circumstances.
The Growing Up GLAD Founding Circle
Help bring joy and wonder to every childhood.
We're inviting a small group of founding partners to help bring the first Growing Up GLAD experiences to life, and to help us expand access to meaningful childhood experiences in the communities where you operate.
Founding partnerships available.
Why it fits your goals
A visible, measurable investment in the children your company serves.
Community impact you choose
Fund children in the neighborhoods where your customers and employees live.
Employee engagement
Volunteer packing days and family events your teams can join.
Results you can report
A one-page Impact Scorecard after every chapter: reach, engagement, creativity, connection, family experience and cost per child.
Trust with families
Recognition that speaks to grown-ups, and never ads aimed at kids.
Be part of the first chapter
The Founding Circle
We're inviting a small group of founding partners to help bring the first Growing Up GLAD experiences to life. Their support will help us complete and test the chapters, place experiences with families and community partners, and learn what makes the program useful, engaging and accessible. Partners receive a clear account of what their support made possible and how children and grown-ups experienced the program.
We list members only once confirmed, and only with their permission.
Who's in the circle
- Founding Partners: companies and foundations that fund the first experiences.
- Community Partners: libraries, schools, park districts and nonprofits that bring them to kids.
- Experience Partners: a museum visit, a performance, a book or a treat.
- Advisors: educators and practitioners who help us get it right.
- Founding Families: the first families to try each chapter and tell us the truth.
Recognition
Recognition grown-ups see.
Founding Partners are recognized on the outer sleeve and in the grown-up guide, on our site and at events, at the level you choose. Our proposed spring 2027 pilot is designed to reach approximately 90 children across three settings: founding families, a library or school group, and families in transition through a nonprofit partner.
What your partnership makes possible
Where founding support goes.
Development and testingCompleting the first chapters and testing them with children, families and educators.
Materials and productionBooks, tools and keepsakes made to children's product safety standards.
Community distributionPlacing experiences with libraries, schools and nonprofits that reach kids who need them.
Facilitator supportGuides and training so any grown-up can lead a chapter with confidence.
Evaluation and reportingLearning what works, and a clear account of what your support made possible.
Founding advisors
Help shape it before it launches.
We're inviting a small group of educators, therapists, librarians, family liaisons and parents to help us pressure-test the first chapters before launch. In a 30-minute conversation, we'd value your perspective on age fit, activity instructions, inclusion, safety and the realities of using the experience at home or in a program. Advisors may also review a Chapter 1 prototype and give optional feedback during the spring 2027 pilot.
Participation does not imply endorsement or a public affiliation.
How it works
TalkA 30-minute conversation about your goals and the community you want to reach.
ChoosePick your level, the children and the setting.
LaunchWe deliver the experiences and the facilitator support.
See itYou receive the Impact Scorecard and stories you can share, with consent.
Hear first as each chapter comes to life.