However, the job of convincing their kid that Santa exists has been a lot more challenging for a dad named Kris Tapley. In a now-viral post on X (former Twitter), Tapley shared how his son has denied that Santa exists for a few years.

Tapley wasn’t ready to spoil his son’s Santa Claus experience, so he went to great lengths to prove him otherwise. This included setting up a camera to record the Christmas tree at his son’s request and then editing the footage.

The video Tapley attached to the post shows a table with milk and cookies and a Christmas tree in the background. As soon as the door opens and Santa “walks in,” the video turns to static. Once the image clears, the milk and cookies are eaten, the presents have been left, and Santa is walking away with his signature “Ho ho ho.”

“My kid has been denying Santa Claus for a few years now but I just haven’t had the heart to give in. He probably thinks I’m insane by this point. Anyway, to shut me up, he insisted on setting up a camera last night. BUT HE DIDN’T COUNT ON DADDY’S FILM DEGREE, “Tapley wrote in the caption of the post that has been viewed close to seven million times since being shared on Christmas Day.

The post Dad Goes Viral for Creative Way of Delivering His Son a Proof That Santa Exists appeared first on PlayJunkie.

The impressive thing about Big Merla’s covers is that she manages to keep them catchy despite using a set of musical instruments for kids and flipping the lyrics of the songs to revolve around things familiar to children.

Big Merla’s big break came in 2023 when she uploaded a video with a cover of Enur ft. Natasja’s  hit track “Calabria.“ That video ended up getting more than 35 million views and left internet users demanding more similar videos.

The TikToker obliged and has since been rolling out kid-friendly covers of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing In The Name”, System Of A Down’s “Chop Suey!”, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog’s “The Next Episode”, and more.

Every Big Merla cover ended up generating quite an interest and saw millions of views on TikTok. Something tells us that more hits are coming, and until then, check out those that have already become bangers.

The post Talented Mom Goes Viral for Doing Kid-Friendly Covers of Popular Songs appeared first on PlayJunkie.

After dedicating the past years to traveling full time, they decided to settle down in Magnetic Island on the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland, Australia, sharing their island adventures online.

The idea to travel, explains Evie, came after some reflection. “I’ve always thought that in 10 years, my daughter Emmie wouldn’t thank me for installing a brand new kitchen and bathroom in our home, but she would thank me for filling her early years with amazing experiences, learnings, and sights and sounds from around the world,” she wrote on her website.

“I’ve realized that working until I retire and then finally doing what makes me happy is not what I want my life to be about,” she adds. “I don’t want to work all through Emmie’s childhood. I want to enjoy our time together now and learn, explore, and adventure together.”

Her life-changing choice didn’t go unnoticed, with some 110,000 followers on Instagram alone.

We wish the two well on their journeys. In the meantime … here are some enviable highlights from their dedicated Instagram page!

The post This Mother & Daughter Duo Found the Perfect Solution for Quarantine appeared first on PlayJunkie.

His signature style is more of a doodle, with added witty remarks and comics-like speech bubbles. Some of his illustrated series include random facts and illustrated one-star reviews of well-known landmarks. According to Lowery, his very particular style has developed over time through daily practice.

“When I was little, I had a grandmother who was an artist and she encouraged my brother and me to keep sketchbooks,” he recalled in an interview with Travel Channel. “Later, I had a college professor who required we draw in one every single day. It really forced me to draw a lot. I used my sketchbooks as a place to experiment with how I draw, what I draw and what materials I use to draw.”

According to Lowery, he still keeps practicing daily in his sketchbooks. “Even when I’ve been drawing for clients all day, it’s that important to me,” he notes. “It was in these daily sketchbooks that I really found my voice.”

“My biggest bit of advice is to make a point to draw for at least 30 minutes a day,” he says. “For some, that seems really tough (it seemed impossible for me at first), but I think it’s incredibly important. You’ll find your voice and figure out how you like to work and draw. It’s also a great way of recording your progress as an artist.”

Take note!

The post This Illustrator Encourages You to Draw Every Day appeared first on PlayJunkie.

After seeing how much fun his older sister was having while painting, he started showing interest and asked his parents if he could also paint. At the time, his parents didn’t know how to respond as he has trouble with fine motor skills, which is a symptom of the diagnosis.

But, instead of giving up and letting their child down, they decided to get creative and find a different way for their son to paint. Just a day after Tristan asked his parents to paint, they purchased him his first acrylic color set and he instantly started “splashing, dripping, and spraying the pictures, he was discovering his own painting style,” his parents shared with PlayJunkie.

It wasn’t long before his parents realized that his creations were unique and special artworks and that they deserved to be shared with the world to reach as many people as possible. His Dad created an Instagram profile to showcase his artwork. The profile reads, “Tristan is a 5-year-old boy with Autism and talent to express himself through painting. As any proud dad, I started posting the paintings..,”

While Tristan paints, his parents record him and when he’s finished, he watches and analyzes his work with a big smile on his face!

As an autistic child, these paintings have not only allowed Tristan to create amazing works of art, but they’ve also been therapeutic for him. The way he expresses himself through his movements and actions and this thought process while painting is quite a magical experience.

Check out more amazing painting from this little artist who proves that anyone, no matter their limitations, can create amazing works of art and have so much fun while doing it!

The post 5-Year-Old Artist With Autism Creates Amazing Paintings appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Based in Atlanta, GA, where she shares a home with her husband, child, and two cats, Wiehle has worked as a freelance illustrator for almost a decade now. She’s also a founding member of Paper Ghost Studio, a small illustration studio and gallery space in Candler Park, Atlanta, where she has been organizing art shows for the last two years.

“Even though Atlanta did seem alien to me in the beginning, I have grown to love it and am very thankful for all the creative people that I have met and become friends with,” she told Lake. “I still travel back to Germany as much as I can, so I can spend time with my family and friends and get my fill of the German breakfast and riding the train around Europe.”

Indeed, her work is very much inspired by her travels around the world. “I have a sketchbook in my bag that I take everywhere I go,” she notes. “I draw on flights, while sitting around at craft shows or at coffee shops. It relaxes my brain and reminds me why I like to draw. Drawing for jobs can get stressful, but drawing just for myself never does.”

With almost 10 books under her belt, as well as 125k followers on Instagram, Wiehle is clearly doing what she was destined to do. “I have always been drawing and ‘creating’ things and never really wanted to do anything else,” she admits. “I think I would be completely terrible at an office job.”

The post Katrin Wiehle’s Illustrations Appeal to Small Children appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“The elementary students gathered to start graduation themselves. They spent all day online together playing games and laughing. I’m glad they all had fun,” a Japanese dad who goes by the pseudonym @backyennew on Twitter shared his son’s graduation ceremony and the feedback was amazing!

 “Modern problems require modern solutions”, one Twitter user commented on the post which has gathered more than 85,000 likes and has over 27,000 retweets so far.

Scroll down and check out the digital celebration below. What a genial project, right?

The post Japanese Elementary Students Made Their Own Graduation Ceremony In Minecraft appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“I’ve always wanted to make people happy,” Caroline said. “When the girl received the package, her response was the sweetest and cutest thing. I knew I wanted to make more.”

And she did. “I sent a couple more cheer packages, and then decided to make this into an actual organization – Caroline’s Cheer Packages. “For every package, I ask the recipient what their favorite character is. I draw that character on the card and weave a friendship bracelet in the color scheme of that character.”

She hopes that one day she could register Caroline’s Cheer Packages into an official nonprofit organization. Alongside with her Instagram and Facebook page, Caroline has also launched a GoFundMe where all the donations will go towards the care packages.

Scroll down and support her dream.

The post Teen Makes Cheer Packages to Put a Smile On Sick People’s Faces appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Melody is an LA-based actress and singer with a flair for the dramatic and a burning passion for anything Broadway and Disney. But LA is full of aspiring actors, the competition is tough, and until she makes it in Hollywood, Melody still has to pay the bills. She came up with an ingenious way to do that – instead of waiting tables at a café or babysitting, Melody started hosting children’s birthday parties as a Disney princess. It’s kind of genius if you think about it – it’s a job that allows her to showcase her talent and home her skills as an actor and singer, and bring a smile to the face of hundreds of children.

Working as a professional Disney Princess isn’t all fun and games, mind you. In fact, Melody’s weekends, which is when most children’s birthday parties take place, tend to be hectic. She has to get up with the break of dawn to apply her makeup – she has to look exactly like the princess she’s playing! – and then she puts her dress and wig and drives to the first of many parties, where she’ll sing for the kids, answer questions and play games. It’s not an easy job – but for Melody, it’s a dream come true.

The post Melody Ricketts is a Real-Life Disney Princess appeared first on PlayJunkie.

The author of various children’s books, Coppo uses a mixed technique combining tempera, pastels, and digital collage. “I began studying illustration from zero,” she relayed in an interview with The Picture Book Review. “I didn’t know much about the world of picture books. Let’s say it was a bit of a gamble. Fortunately, when I opened the door to this world, I fell in love with it.”

Coppo says that the form and structure of picture books are unique and extremely stimulating. “I love reading them and the idea to give this form to my stories came quite naturally,” she admits, adding that making picture books is a hybrid between writing and drawing: two worlds in which she feels at home.

“Creating a book is an incredibly exciting and terribly frustrating experience,” she adds. “The aha-insight moment is amazing. I’m not a very methodical person and I tend to scribble down stories. When I first come up with a story, it seems perfect (it never is). Then comes the part that I have to make concrete all of the things that I have in my head and that’s when the trouble begins.” According to Coppo, working on a book can be a taxing exercise. “Often I fall in love with the idea and lose sight of the bigger picture,” she notes. “In practical terms, it comes down to making compromises.”

A fan of irreverent stories, free camping, mountains, and tenderloin with green pepper, this is one illustrator you’ll want to follow on Instagram, if nothing else.

The post Marianna Coppo Has Mastered the Art of the Picture Book appeared first on PlayJunkie.

However, the job of convincing their kid that Santa exists has been a lot more challenging for a dad named Kris Tapley. In a now-viral post on X (former Twitter), Tapley shared how his son has denied that Santa exists for a few years.

Tapley wasn’t ready to spoil his son’s Santa Claus experience, so he went to great lengths to prove him otherwise. This included setting up a camera to record the Christmas tree at his son’s request and then editing the footage.

The video Tapley attached to the post shows a table with milk and cookies and a Christmas tree in the background. As soon as the door opens and Santa “walks in,” the video turns to static. Once the image clears, the milk and cookies are eaten, the presents have been left, and Santa is walking away with his signature “Ho ho ho.”

“My kid has been denying Santa Claus for a few years now but I just haven’t had the heart to give in. He probably thinks I’m insane by this point. Anyway, to shut me up, he insisted on setting up a camera last night. BUT HE DIDN’T COUNT ON DADDY’S FILM DEGREE, “Tapley wrote in the caption of the post that has been viewed close to seven million times since being shared on Christmas Day.

The post Dad Goes Viral for Creative Way of Delivering His Son a Proof That Santa Exists appeared first on PlayJunkie.

The impressive thing about Big Merla’s covers is that she manages to keep them catchy despite using a set of musical instruments for kids and flipping the lyrics of the songs to revolve around things familiar to children.

Big Merla’s big break came in 2023 when she uploaded a video with a cover of Enur ft. Natasja’s  hit track “Calabria.“ That video ended up getting more than 35 million views and left internet users demanding more similar videos.

The TikToker obliged and has since been rolling out kid-friendly covers of Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing In The Name”, System Of A Down’s “Chop Suey!”, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog’s “The Next Episode”, and more.

Every Big Merla cover ended up generating quite an interest and saw millions of views on TikTok. Something tells us that more hits are coming, and until then, check out those that have already become bangers.

The post Talented Mom Goes Viral for Doing Kid-Friendly Covers of Popular Songs appeared first on PlayJunkie.

After dedicating the past years to traveling full time, they decided to settle down in Magnetic Island on the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland, Australia, sharing their island adventures online.

The idea to travel, explains Evie, came after some reflection. “I’ve always thought that in 10 years, my daughter Emmie wouldn’t thank me for installing a brand new kitchen and bathroom in our home, but she would thank me for filling her early years with amazing experiences, learnings, and sights and sounds from around the world,” she wrote on her website.

“I’ve realized that working until I retire and then finally doing what makes me happy is not what I want my life to be about,” she adds. “I don’t want to work all through Emmie’s childhood. I want to enjoy our time together now and learn, explore, and adventure together.”

Her life-changing choice didn’t go unnoticed, with some 110,000 followers on Instagram alone.

We wish the two well on their journeys. In the meantime … here are some enviable highlights from their dedicated Instagram page!

The post This Mother & Daughter Duo Found the Perfect Solution for Quarantine appeared first on PlayJunkie.

His signature style is more of a doodle, with added witty remarks and comics-like speech bubbles. Some of his illustrated series include random facts and illustrated one-star reviews of well-known landmarks. According to Lowery, his very particular style has developed over time through daily practice.

“When I was little, I had a grandmother who was an artist and she encouraged my brother and me to keep sketchbooks,” he recalled in an interview with Travel Channel. “Later, I had a college professor who required we draw in one every single day. It really forced me to draw a lot. I used my sketchbooks as a place to experiment with how I draw, what I draw and what materials I use to draw.”

According to Lowery, he still keeps practicing daily in his sketchbooks. “Even when I’ve been drawing for clients all day, it’s that important to me,” he notes. “It was in these daily sketchbooks that I really found my voice.”

“My biggest bit of advice is to make a point to draw for at least 30 minutes a day,” he says. “For some, that seems really tough (it seemed impossible for me at first), but I think it’s incredibly important. You’ll find your voice and figure out how you like to work and draw. It’s also a great way of recording your progress as an artist.”

Take note!

The post This Illustrator Encourages You to Draw Every Day appeared first on PlayJunkie.

After seeing how much fun his older sister was having while painting, he started showing interest and asked his parents if he could also paint. At the time, his parents didn’t know how to respond as he has trouble with fine motor skills, which is a symptom of the diagnosis.

But, instead of giving up and letting their child down, they decided to get creative and find a different way for their son to paint. Just a day after Tristan asked his parents to paint, they purchased him his first acrylic color set and he instantly started “splashing, dripping, and spraying the pictures, he was discovering his own painting style,” his parents shared with PlayJunkie.

It wasn’t long before his parents realized that his creations were unique and special artworks and that they deserved to be shared with the world to reach as many people as possible. His Dad created an Instagram profile to showcase his artwork. The profile reads, “Tristan is a 5-year-old boy with Autism and talent to express himself through painting. As any proud dad, I started posting the paintings..,”

While Tristan paints, his parents record him and when he’s finished, he watches and analyzes his work with a big smile on his face!

As an autistic child, these paintings have not only allowed Tristan to create amazing works of art, but they’ve also been therapeutic for him. The way he expresses himself through his movements and actions and this thought process while painting is quite a magical experience.

Check out more amazing painting from this little artist who proves that anyone, no matter their limitations, can create amazing works of art and have so much fun while doing it!

The post 5-Year-Old Artist With Autism Creates Amazing Paintings appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Based in Atlanta, GA, where she shares a home with her husband, child, and two cats, Wiehle has worked as a freelance illustrator for almost a decade now. She’s also a founding member of Paper Ghost Studio, a small illustration studio and gallery space in Candler Park, Atlanta, where she has been organizing art shows for the last two years.

“Even though Atlanta did seem alien to me in the beginning, I have grown to love it and am very thankful for all the creative people that I have met and become friends with,” she told Lake. “I still travel back to Germany as much as I can, so I can spend time with my family and friends and get my fill of the German breakfast and riding the train around Europe.”

Indeed, her work is very much inspired by her travels around the world. “I have a sketchbook in my bag that I take everywhere I go,” she notes. “I draw on flights, while sitting around at craft shows or at coffee shops. It relaxes my brain and reminds me why I like to draw. Drawing for jobs can get stressful, but drawing just for myself never does.”

With almost 10 books under her belt, as well as 125k followers on Instagram, Wiehle is clearly doing what she was destined to do. “I have always been drawing and ‘creating’ things and never really wanted to do anything else,” she admits. “I think I would be completely terrible at an office job.”

The post Katrin Wiehle’s Illustrations Appeal to Small Children appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“The elementary students gathered to start graduation themselves. They spent all day online together playing games and laughing. I’m glad they all had fun,” a Japanese dad who goes by the pseudonym @backyennew on Twitter shared his son’s graduation ceremony and the feedback was amazing!

 “Modern problems require modern solutions”, one Twitter user commented on the post which has gathered more than 85,000 likes and has over 27,000 retweets so far.

Scroll down and check out the digital celebration below. What a genial project, right?

The post Japanese Elementary Students Made Their Own Graduation Ceremony In Minecraft appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“I’ve always wanted to make people happy,” Caroline said. “When the girl received the package, her response was the sweetest and cutest thing. I knew I wanted to make more.”

And she did. “I sent a couple more cheer packages, and then decided to make this into an actual organization – Caroline’s Cheer Packages. “For every package, I ask the recipient what their favorite character is. I draw that character on the card and weave a friendship bracelet in the color scheme of that character.”

She hopes that one day she could register Caroline’s Cheer Packages into an official nonprofit organization. Alongside with her Instagram and Facebook page, Caroline has also launched a GoFundMe where all the donations will go towards the care packages.

Scroll down and support her dream.

The post Teen Makes Cheer Packages to Put a Smile On Sick People’s Faces appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Melody is an LA-based actress and singer with a flair for the dramatic and a burning passion for anything Broadway and Disney. But LA is full of aspiring actors, the competition is tough, and until she makes it in Hollywood, Melody still has to pay the bills. She came up with an ingenious way to do that – instead of waiting tables at a café or babysitting, Melody started hosting children’s birthday parties as a Disney princess. It’s kind of genius if you think about it – it’s a job that allows her to showcase her talent and home her skills as an actor and singer, and bring a smile to the face of hundreds of children.

Working as a professional Disney Princess isn’t all fun and games, mind you. In fact, Melody’s weekends, which is when most children’s birthday parties take place, tend to be hectic. She has to get up with the break of dawn to apply her makeup – she has to look exactly like the princess she’s playing! – and then she puts her dress and wig and drives to the first of many parties, where she’ll sing for the kids, answer questions and play games. It’s not an easy job – but for Melody, it’s a dream come true.

The post Melody Ricketts is a Real-Life Disney Princess appeared first on PlayJunkie.

The author of various children’s books, Coppo uses a mixed technique combining tempera, pastels, and digital collage. “I began studying illustration from zero,” she relayed in an interview with The Picture Book Review. “I didn’t know much about the world of picture books. Let’s say it was a bit of a gamble. Fortunately, when I opened the door to this world, I fell in love with it.”

Coppo says that the form and structure of picture books are unique and extremely stimulating. “I love reading them and the idea to give this form to my stories came quite naturally,” she admits, adding that making picture books is a hybrid between writing and drawing: two worlds in which she feels at home.

“Creating a book is an incredibly exciting and terribly frustrating experience,” she adds. “The aha-insight moment is amazing. I’m not a very methodical person and I tend to scribble down stories. When I first come up with a story, it seems perfect (it never is). Then comes the part that I have to make concrete all of the things that I have in my head and that’s when the trouble begins.” According to Coppo, working on a book can be a taxing exercise. “Often I fall in love with the idea and lose sight of the bigger picture,” she notes. “In practical terms, it comes down to making compromises.”

A fan of irreverent stories, free camping, mountains, and tenderloin with green pepper, this is one illustrator you’ll want to follow on Instagram, if nothing else.

The post Marianna Coppo Has Mastered the Art of the Picture Book appeared first on PlayJunkie.