AHA! Tantrum · iCalm Galaxy
AHA!Tantrum
A build-and-play galaxy adventure that lets children rehearse calming skills at the exact moment play becomes emotionally difficult.
- Role
- Design Lead
- Team
- MEandMine
- Year
- 2021
01The brief
Make emotional regulation feel like play—not a lesson wearing a costume.
iCalm Galaxy is an educational board game for children ages 4–7. A rescue story, hands-on making, and repeated play combine STEAM learning with social-emotional learning so children can recognize big feelings and practice what to do next.
- 40
- scenario cards
- 6
- basic emotions
- 9
- calming skills
02Core mechanic
“Play before education.”
Designing frustration on purpose.
Most emotion-learning products felt more educational than fun. The balancing UFO adds the tension of a real game: every new alien makes the platform less stable, and a fall can trigger genuine frustration.
That emotional peak is the interaction. Instead of ending the game, it prompts children to pause, choose a calming skill, and return to the rescue together.
03Feature · Calming Orb
Hide & See turns a breath into a reveal.
The soft orb gives children a tangible place to practice all nine calming skills. When a strong feeling appears beyond the game, they can bring it to a quieter space and use the same ritual independently.
- 01Blow
A slow, deliberate breath begins the calming action.
- 02Reveal
Sensi’s hidden face appears as a small moment of surprise.
- 03Reset
Attention shifts, creating room to re-enter the moment.
04Experience
Read · Build · Play
The learning loop is carried by three different kinds of engagement, each giving the next one more meaning.
01Read
Kids enter a galaxy rescue story and meet alien characters overwhelmed by six basic emotions.
02Build
The mission package becomes a set of space-themed projects sized for the motor skills of ages four to seven.
03Play
The completed build turns into a reusable balancing game, reinforcing calming skills through tactile repetition.
05Design process
Observe the emotion, then redesign the moment around it.
As Design Lead, I worked with MEandMine’s content team and illustrator through prototyping, family usability tests, iteration, sourcing, DFM, and production proofing.
Designing for two audiences
Children reveal the truth through play. Parents reveal it through reflection.
During sessions, I tracked where children reached an emotional peak, what pulled them back in, and which moments families enjoyed together. Parent interviews added the purchase and learning perspective without interrupting play.
Iteration
From a form that looked like a spacecraft to one that played like a game.
Paper, cardboard, and laser-cut studies tested balance, assembly, safety, and manufacturing tolerance. The final symmetric UFO wobbled more delightfully, cost less to control in production, and was simpler for young children to build.
01Paper study
02Cardboard mechanism
03Symmetric UFO
06Outcome
A learning product that earned a place in homes, stores, and the press.
- Amazon’s Choice on Amazon US
- Recommended by Drew Barrymore
- Featured on CBS 17 “My Carolina”
- Sold through eslite bookstores in Taiwan
Drew Barrymore
Selected for her 2021 holiday top-gift roundup.
CBS 17 · My Carolina
Featured in a back-to-school trends segment.
eslite · Taiwan
Stocked by Taiwan’s largest bookstore chain.
“My boys have not stopped playing since we got it.”
— Lindsey Heinemann, parent
07Reflection
Frustration can be a rehearsal for recovery.
The UFO works not despite making children frustrated, but because it creates a safe, shared version of that feeling. The strongest learning moment begins at the wobble—when the design helps a child pause, regulate, and choose to try again.
