Inside Superminds Academy NYC, blindfolds replace screens while children sort cards, identify colors, and work through sensory exercises guided by parents and trainers. Equal parts playful and quietly intense, the parents and kids workshop turns concentration and communication into something families experience together.
Created by neuropsychologist Dr. Ann DeSollar and educator Elena Restrepo, the 90-minute workshop invites families to step away from everyday distractions and into a series of sensory-based activities built around focus and collaboration.
Here are five reasons families across NYC are checking it out.
1. Parents are part of the workshop too
This isn’t the kind of activity where adults sit on the sidelines and scroll endlessly while they wait for their kids to finish. Throughout the session, parents actively guide their children through exercises using verbal cues, reassurance, and object-based activities. Somewhere between the color cards and sorting games, the workshop becomes just as much about communication as concentration.
2. The exercises are designed to encourage focus without feeling like homework
From matching colors and identifying patterns to organizing objects while blindfolded, the workshop uses structured sensory games to encourage attention. And, more importantly, patience — in a way that still feels playful. The focus here isn’t perfection. It’s slowing down, listening carefully, and working through challenges step by step.
3. It gives families a genuinely screen-free activity
For many parents, finding activities that hold their child’s attention (without a screen) can feel like an impossible task. Superminds Academy replaces tablets with tactile exercises. These encourage children to play through a problem, and with guided verbal interaction and collaborative problem-solving (with their own parent), the workshop creates an environment where families can focus entirely on what’s happening in front of them. Even if one of them can’t see what exactly is happening.
4. The workshop feels collaborative instead of competitive
Everyone moves through life at their own pace. The same thing happens here, where each child moves through the activities differently, and that’s part of the experience. Rather than racing to get the “right” answer, families are encouraged to communicate clearly, stay patient, and work together through each exercise. The atmosphere is calm, curious, and supportive. Also, if you’re going to get it done, you’re going to get it done together.
5. It turns focus-building into a shared family experience
At its core, Superminds Academy isn’t just about sensory exercises — it’s about the dynamic between parents and children while they complete them. The workshop creates small moments of teamwork throughout the session, whether that’s carefully describing a color card, guiding an object-sorting activity, or simply learning how to communicate a little differently together.
Superminds Academy will be held at The Walker Loft in Lower Manhattan.
