Getting Kids Back Outside

Hi, I’m Melisalyn — a Mimi of six, and the one behind Knotty & Friends.

It started with one very tall Bigfoot

A hand-built, eight-foot Bigfoot has stood in my backyard for a couple of years now. My grandbabies were spending more and more time on screens. I wanted to bring them into my Bigfoot world instead. So Knotty got a name, a story, and some friends. Yeti came next. Then came Mr. Jim, our trail guide lumberjack (he looks just like my husband, lol). Ensley, Lawson, and Ruthie are named for three of my own six grandbabies.

What began as yard art grew into something bigger: storybooks, coloring books, and free trail activities. I made them for my own grandkids. I wanted to get them off their screens, even for part of the day, and back outside using their imaginations.