 And her project is the Artie Fox, you may have seen it, it's Creativity Boxes for Children. We'll get to that in just a moment. And the name is Fina McBride and Fina always wanted to be a schoolteacher and so always the first to offer to babysit for children and has since made a career out of it. And not just to teaching children but being a creator for children as well. And mind you, her life changed dramatically a number of years back when her little boy, two year old Donna, passed away suddenly. But now she's offering a helping hand to parents and children who might find themselves in hospital or bored anywhere really with creativity sets from the Artie Box. And Fina now joins me in the studio for a chat. Fina, thanks for coming in. Hello, thanks for having me. It's great to be here. Do you get all or any of that right? Yes, yes. All right. Yeah. Well done. Let's talk about... Well, let's go back I suppose and talk about Donna first of all. You never really get over something like that. And it was sudden, it was huge, it was sad. And to this day, how are you doing now? Oh, doing good. You know, it's always with you. But we feel very lucky that we had Donna for two years. And he was a great wee boy. You know, he had two older sisters and he was our baby. And he was always great. He was the best boy. So really, like he died suddenly and it's funny because the overwhelming feeling was, well, great sadness. But also we were grateful. We were grateful we had him for so long, for two years. So he had his own wee personality and everything. And his sisters have memories of him. So there's lots of things to be grateful for too. OK. You know. And now it's a family of three again because you got pregnant after that and had a wee girl. Yeah, I had a little girl a year later. So another thing to be grateful for too. You know, I was still able to have another child and she just brought great happiness and joy to our family again. You know, you kind of wonder, will you ever be happy again? But she did help a lot, you know. And now she's just turned three. And I'm sure she's mad, you know, and it's great. And she's starting to ask questions about him now. You know, she has, you know, there's pictures of him everywhere. The girls talk about him all the time. We're dealing with that now, asking the questions. You know, where is he? You know, what happened to him? You know, and when there's a sudden death like that, you know, he died of sudden infant death in his sleep. So really, there is no, you know, so it's just answering questions like, well, he just died. You know, it's tricky. How do you explain to a three-year-old? Absolutely, but it'll come, you know, as she gets older. And so it's a busy house. Very busy house. Loud house. Yeah, well, that's what we expected. And you always wanted to work with kids. You always wanted to teach kids. And you've done that for years. And you've always been creative. Yeah, like I did art in school. And I loved that. And I was always pottering about the house and stuff. But I kind of went away from that. I was primary school teacher. And I always loved teaching art in school, but I never would have done anything for myself. And it was just really, then when COVID hit and, you know, you're at home, we had two girls at that stage during COVID and they were kind of preschool age and young primary school age. So I found I was doing a lot of creative activities with them and also seeing a lot of things online, you know, parents crying out for what will I do with them, looking for easy ways to do art at home because a lot of parents, you know, are afraid of it. They're afraid of the mess. They're all also, you know, oh, I'm no good at art. So like my children automatically maybe won't be good at art, but a lot of kids have a great interest in it. So yeah, so then it kind of came back, you know, and I'm no artist. I always say that, you know, like I'm not an artist. I'm a teacher really. But as long as I can facilitate kids to be artists and to explore different materials and to just have fun doing it as well. So there was an artistic side within you that was screaming to get out and combine that with teaching and the Artie Fox was creating it. Yeah, so I had this idea of, you know, if you could have everything in one box, you know, that didn't need instructions or anything because kids know what to do, especially when they get a box filled with materials. They'll start exploring themselves and making things that you would never dream of. So that was kind of the idea. And then I started just before Christmas in 2020 and it just took off. You know, we had a Christmas card box and a box filled with arts and crafts materials and it really took off. And I was just through Facebook, I was selling, you know, nationwide for that whole Christmas. I was so busy and had a six-month-old baby and that was mad. It sounds mad and then the whole world was mad at the time, you know, in the midst of a pandemic. And I suppose a lot of bored kids at home and parents, you know, wondering how you could fill up their time. So it took off. Exactly. It was amazing. And, you know, it just took off so quickly and I was so excited by it, you know, but it gets tiring as well after a while. And then as people go back to school, things change then. You know, parents may be back at work. They're not needing to entertain the kids as much at home anymore. So the business kind of changed a little bit towards workshops more as people got back together, you know. So for the last year, I still sell the craft boxes and everything, but I'm doing a lot of workshops as well. All right. Is that where your heart lies? Well, it's funny that you go back to teaching, you know, you think, oh, I'm out of teaching now and, you know, that's great. It's a lovely change. And I love the business side, but I still love, it's like therapy, you know, you get a group of kids in for an hour and a half or an hour on a Saturday and you just have great fun, you know, so. And it's challenging as well, you know, seeing how they're going to get on and what you can teach them and how creative they can be. Oh, absolutely. You know, I usually just have a few different activities set up and really then they just make it their own. And I have a little group that have been going since January. We meet once a month and it's nice to have the same children each month, you know. And they, because they've kind of got together in their little group now, we're actually going on Saturday to the Glebe Gallery for our last workshop together. We're going to go out to the Glebe Gallery and do it more outdoors, which will be lovely. And you've also been working with different groups, like Lina, Letcher Cannon. Yeah, so I've been really lucky that I have Irish. I'm not fluent in Irish, but it has come on a lot too because I just thought I was being offered jobs to do art workshops through Irish for families. I just thought, oh, I'm just going to go with it. And, you know, once you have the confidence to use a few words, it actually has worked out great. I now nearly get most of my work is through Irish, you know, workshops down in Ghidor, Kerry Gart, and with Lina Letcher Cannon as well. So it's a fantastic opportunity. And when you mention kids and creativity in the same sentence, there's always an appetite for it and kids are sponges and they want to learn. And it's just about facilitating that and doing it in the right way and having, being creative, sure, but also having great patience. Yes, absolutely. And I've always been patient and I also don't mind mess. My husband will tell you that. So you can clean it up afterwards. You know, it doesn't last forever. Yeah, indeed. So if people are listening and thinking, well, I'd like to find out more about that. I mean, the artie box, that's the thing, and very much the workshops. So where can people, are you active on social media? Yeah, so I have a Facebook and Instagram page. My Instagram is the.artifox and on our website as well, which is theartifox.ie. You can get some craft boxes there that might keep the kids entertained over the summer and there's also a little pack there. It's called the plane sailing pack, which is for going on holidays. So if you're going on holidays and you're worried about the plane journey or maybe the ferry ride, it's a little pack with like a whiteboard and some playing cards and coloring pencils and a little holiday journal as well, which is really nice, just to keep the kids maybe, you know, if you just have an afternoon on holidays that it's too hot or something and you need to just get them to... And it also might keep them off electronics for a while. Exactly. So that was also a little bit part of the journey too, was to, you know, I don't mind electronics. I have three kids and, you know, sometimes it's great, but that it's not the first thing you go to, that you have something as an alternative for the first activity that will keep them entertained for a little while and also have families talking to each other, you know. Doing things together. Doing things together, playing a game together. I have these conversation cards in the travel packs and they're such a hit, you know, just things like, you know, describe your perfect day, things like, you know, name three rules your parents should go by or something like that, that gets conversations happening. Okay, yeah. Stimulates the mind and gives parents, I suppose, topics and subjects to chat to their kids about it. Exactly, and kids love it. And it's a game. Exactly. It's a challenge for kids. Yeah. I remember going across the Atlantic with the kids when they were small, it was like three, four and six or something and it was a nightmare. Yeah. It's hard work. Yeah. It is hard work. So, I like to, I'm trying to find things that will just make things a little bit easier for parents but also keeping it interesting for kids. And you've also had some doors open to you to a couple of the big hospitals in Dublin. Yeah, so this was a long and really interesting project. I approached the Children's Hospital in Dublin to see could I do something, do something with them, collaborate with them in some way. So, at the minute, we have a pilot project in two of the Children's Hospitals in Tallah and in Connolly, in Blanchardstown. So, when you go into the emergency departments there, there's a stand with some activities for children to do. So, the idea is that hopefully, you know, as children are waiting for a long time in emergency departments, that there's just something creative there for them to do. Again, that maybe the screen isn't the first thing they do and it's a little story. I actually, Louise Flanagan, who wrote the Dragon Tarot books, she wrote the story for me. Great. I had another local lady who did the illustrations, Tina Tuske, and we put it all together and we've made this lovely little, like a little creative activity for children to do. So, hopefully, that's a two-month pilot project in Dublin. And I'm hoping that's almost up. So, hopefully, it'll be continued. So, Letter Kenne Hospital have also, they're hoping as well, which is really needed in their emergency department. They're hoping to have a children's dedicated area. So, I've actually just drummed and National School have just donated some money towards that. So, I'm designing an area, a waiting area for the children. So, again, we're hoping to have some activities in there for children, too. It's only when you've got kids and you're in a place like that where you've run out of ideas and you're there for maybe a long period of time and they're bored as kids, inevitably, are at that age, very quickly, they get bored. You're looking around, you're scrambling around for ideas and you can't take it for granted that there'll be a box of toys in the corner. Sometimes there are, sometimes there aren't. And have something that's creative and there's little challenges within. It's a perfect fit. Yeah. So, hopefully, we're not saying that we're going to entertain them for 24 hours while they're waiting in the emergency department. But it'll fill a little gap, maybe between the snack, the looking at the device. And it's also hopefully going to be a quality experience that isn't something very simple, that it is a little bit of creativity and that maybe the parent and child could work together on it as well. So, again, you're encouraging communication between the parent and child as well. So, when a brand new and shiny children's hospital eventually opens, the Hardy Fox might be there. Well, that's the hope, John. Yeah, that's where I'm looking towards. You know, I just feel like, well, there's lots of hospitals in Ireland. You know, I don't need to just concentrate on the children's hospital. And there's children in every hospital. So, I'm really excited. I was delighted to be asked by Lederkenne because that's my local hospital and I've used the emergency department with my own children. And, you know, they are really trying down there as well to make things a little bit easier for families. So, yeah. So, the children's hospital is the, you know, the ultimate goal of Cromland, the new hospital, but... You're not overlooking all the other hospitals. No, absolutely not. There's, you know, there's children everywhere. Okay. Checked about online the Hardy Fox and the best look with everything. Fina, I appreciate you coming in. Thanks very much.