Raising Creative Kids through Play
From We’re Doing Great | A Podcast for Imperfect Parents by Pok Pok by Pok Pok
March 31, 2026 · 24 min · Season 1 · Episode 18
About this episode
Esther discusses the intersection of play, creativity, and parenthood with artist Mills Brown.
What happens when you stop directing your child's play and simply let them lead? In this episode, Esther sits down solo with multidisciplinary artist and mom Mills Brown to explore the deep, sometimes surprising, places where play, creativity, and parenthood overlap. You'll hear about Mills's sensory play sessions for children as young as six months at Modern Art Oxford, her upcoming solo exhibition, and the Montessori philosophy that shapes everything she does, including why the most powerful thing you can do in a play environment is step back and say nothing at all. Whether you've been wondering how to nurture your own creativity or simply how to make more space for truly free, open-ended play at home, this conversation is warm, curious, and full of gentle reminders that you're doing better than you think. Mills Brown is a multidisciplinary artist whose work lives at the intersection of painting, illustration, animation, and sculpture, with play as the thread that ties it all together. She's the Producer of Early Years and Young People at Modern Art Oxford, where she creates sensory play experiences for children as young as six months old, and is the creator of the upcoming…
People in this episode
Host: Esther
Guest: Mills Brown
Topics covered
- creative play
- parenting
- Montessori philosophy
- art
- child development
Keywords
- creative kids
- sensory play
- Montessori
- parenthood
- art
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Modern Art Oxford
Books & works: Where We Overlap
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