"Live From Snack Time" is not just a funny Instagram page anymore – it's almost an entire franchise at this point. What started off as a teacher sharing funnies she heard from her students at school has now snowballed into a page with submissions from all over the world, dedicated merch, and a scholarship for future educators!
The co-founders of the project are Alyssa Tucker and Greg Dunbar. In a previous interview, the pair told Bored Panda more about how it all came about. In 2015, Alyssa started a Twitter account where she shared the questions and quotes from her students. Soon after that, her friend from college, Greg, suggested she bring the project to Instagram, and both became the co-founders of LFST.
"Kids have such an incredible way of understanding the world," Alyssa told us back then. "The kids were just saying some brilliant, unfiltered, honest quote and questions that I really felt had to be shared," she told DEMDACO earlier this year, during the launch of their Christmas merchandise collection.
The products (mugs, pillows, towels, and more) all come with a quote previously featured on the LFST page. According to Alyssa, fans of the page have been pestering her and Greg for almost 10 years, saying things like, "When are you going to put this on a mug?", "I want this quote on an artwork in my classroom", and "When are you going to start making things for my house?" The merch, therefore, was really the fans' idea.
Back in 2015, Alyssa would share the funny and observational quotes the kids in her classroom would say. Today, LFST accepts submissions from parents and teachers all over the world. "Someone called us the international hub for kids' quotes," Alyssa said when she spoke to DEMDACO. "We get submissions from all over the world, almost every single continent, except for Antarctica.
But LFST is not just about making people laugh. Yes, kids say the darndest and most out-of-pocket things sometimes. But Alyssa and Greg say that the project is also about learning to listen to what kids say.
"Kids have an incredible way of seeing the world—honest, curious, and brilliantly unexpected. The most important thing we can do is listen. By truly hearing them, we validate their thoughts, encourage their curiosity, and remind ourselves of the wisdom in their words," their mission statement reads.
"We need to take these quotes and comments seriously, kids are just trying to navigate the world and it's our job to help them," the duo told Bored Panda in an even older interview. "The value of listening to children and validating their feelings lies in building their confidence, empowering them to express themselves, and reinforcing that their voices matter," the co-creators believe.
"Live From Snack Time" is also dedicated to giving back. Every year, the project awards two scholarships to the young people training to become early learning educators. A portion of their proceeds go to funding the scholarship. Most times, fans of the page and the project nominate the candidates.
