They say life doesn't come with a lesson plan.
Now it does.
There's a lot kids need to learn about life that doesn't always make it into the classroom. Taylor Method Life Lab brings those lessons together with academic concepts, practical skills, and real-world situations, all taught through stories and experiences kids can actually get excited about.
Sample Episodes
Want to see what a Life Lab lesson looks like?
Every lesson starts with a question. Sometimes it's something kids are already wondering about. Sometimes it's something they didn't even know they wanted to understand. Take a look at a few episodes and see how we bring those questions to life.
How Exactly Do Animal Cells Work? — Animal Cell Factory
Step inside a busy animal cell factory where every organelle has a job. Kids learn how the different parts of a cell work together to keep things running.
How Do I Say No Without Making It Awkward?
Saying no can feel surprisingly uncomfortable, especially when you don't want to disappoint someone. This episode explores how kids can set boundaries while still being considerate of other people.
Why Do I Feel Ugly?
Picture day, comparisons, and that uncomfortable feeling that everyone else looks better than you. This episode gives kids a chance to think about where those feelings come from and how they see themselves.
Prepare them for real life, one lesson at a time.
Get one free Life Lab episode each week with practical tools that help kids navigate emotions, relationships, school, independence, and everyday life.
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Life Lab Missions
Now let's see what you can do with what you've learned.
Watching a story is a great place to start. But I also want kids to have a chance to use what they've learned.
That's where Life Lab Missions come in.
Every episode has its own interactive mission where kids answer questions, make decisions, and work through challenges connected to the lesson.
Some missions take kids right into the story. They might help get an animal cell factory running again by figuring out what each organelle does, or help Abuela Rose remember the ingredients a plant needs to make its own food.
Other missions are shorter, giving kids a chance to think through the lesson and show what they understand.
When they finish, they earn a certificate they can personalize and keep.
01
WATCH
Start with the episode.
02
SOLVE
Step into the mission and use what you learned.
03
COMPLETE
Finish the challenge and earn your certificate.
There's more to growing up than getting good grades.
Think about how much time children spend learning things they'll need to know for a test.
Now think about how much time they spend learning what to do when a friendship falls apart, someone is bullying them, they're overwhelmed by their feelings, or they're convinced they aren't good at something.
And what about the everyday stuff? Taking care of themselves, understanding money, making decisions, communicating, or figuring out how things work?
These are things kids are already dealing with, whether we've prepared them or not.
I think we can make more room for those lessons. And while we're at it, I think we can make learning the academic stuff a whole lot more interesting, too.
Sound Familiar?
Why is it so hard for me to get started?
What do I do if I get lost?
Why do I feel ugly?
How do I help my friend who is being bullied?
Why do I feel like a failure?
What do I do if I want to say no but I don't want them to be mad at me?
Kids are expected to know how to navigate life before anyone has taught them how.
Most of the time, we don't realize a lesson needs to be taught until a child is already living it.
Kids are learning these lessons either way — from friends, social media, mistakes, or whatever happens first.
Life Lab teaches these lessons intentionally.
The Solution
So, what is Taylor Method Life Lab?
Life Lab is a growing collection of short educational episodes created for curious kids who have questions about themselves, other people, and the world around them.
Some lessons explore everyday situations, like feeling left out, dealing with a bully, or figuring out how to say no.
Others tackle things like multiplication, percentages, plant cells, or the responsibilities that come with growing up.
Each lesson uses storytelling, relatable situations, creative explanations, and practical ideas to help kids understand what they're learning and remember it.
Every episode comes with its own Life Lab Mission, where kids get to answer questions, make choices, and use what they've learned.
Kids can choose the subjects that interest them and explore at their own pace.
How It Works
We take the things kids wonder about, struggle with, or are trying to figure out and turn them into lessons they can actually connect with.
Every lesson follows the same simple plan.
01
Engage
Start with a story.
Every episode begins with something kids can connect with. It might be a character working through a familiar problem, a funny adventure, or a mystery about how something works. We use stories to make ideas easier to understand and more interesting to explore.
02
Explore
Get curious.
Kids are encouraged to think about what's happening, ask questions, and make connections. Every episode includes an interactive mission where they get to make choices and work through challenges themselves.
03
Anchor
Make it stick.
We use simple Taylor Method Tools, memorable explanations, and opportunities to practice so kids have something they can come back to when they need it.
04
Integrate
Take it into real life.
The learning doesn't have to end when the episode does. Kids can start noticing these ideas in their own lives, trying out what they've learned, and finding new ways to approach situations.
Through relatable stories, clear action steps, and memorable TM Tools, kids see what those ideas actually look like in real life — what they can say, what they can do, what they can think about, and where they can turn for help. So when the grown-up who usually helps them isn't standing right beside them, they still have tools to reach for.
What Counts as a Life Lesson?
What counts as a life lesson?
Pretty much anything that helps a kid understand themselves, take care of themselves, connect with others, or make sense of the world. That might mean learning how to handle an argument with a friend. It might mean understanding percentages, cooking a meal, figuring out why plants need sunlight, or learning what to do when you feel anxious. If it's something that helps a child grow, learn, or navigate life, there's room for it here.
Me
My People
My Home
My Life
My Education
What We Talk About
What does Life Lab actually talk about?
A few real lessons from inside the library.
How Exactly Do Plants Make Their Own Food?
Plants don’t have kitchens, refrigerators, or grocery stores — so where does their food come from? We explore the science of photosynthesis and how plants turn basic ingredients into usable energy.
Why Is It So Hard to Get Started?
What’s underneath procrastination, overwhelm, and “I just don’t feel like it”? We explore motivation, friction, and how to get moving when your brain keeps hitting the brakes.
When Someone Is Being Bullied
Do you jump in, help, get help, or stay quiet? We explore safe ways to respond, how to support someone else, and the difference between helping and escalating.
Why It Feels Different
This isn't a rulebook for being a "good kid."
Life Lab is a lab. We get curious, ask questions, look at what happened, try tools, notice what works, and sometimes change our minds. Social-emotional learning is part of it, but kids need more than emotional skills alone, so we connect SEL with practical life skills, independence, safety and real-world situations.
"We don't give kids all the answers. We teach them how to work through the question."
What Everyone Gets
Skills for them. Better conversations for both of you.
For Kids
- ✓Language for what they're experiencing
- ✓Tools they can remember in real situations
- ✓More confidence solving everyday problems
- ✓Practice making decisions
- ✓Greater independence
- ✓A healthier way to work through mistakes and feelings
For Parents
- ✓A starting point for difficult conversations
- ✓Language you can use together
- ✓Topics you may not have thought to teach yet
- ✓Practical reinforcement without another lecture
- ✓Independence built before kids actually need it
- ✓Resources that support what you already teach at home
These lessons give families something to talk about, teachers something to reinforce, and kids language and tools they can share with each other. And sometimes, another child is the first person a kid turns to for advice.
Who's Guiding the Experiments?
Meet Professor Taylor
Professor Taylor is the on-screen guide to Taylor Method Life Lab, inspired by its real-life creator, educator Sierra Taylor.
Sierra is a University of Michigan graduate and special education teacher at Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in New Jersey. Her work with children also includes kids' yoga, mindfulness, breathwork, and years of creative teaching. Before moving fully into education, she spent 14 years as a professional cake decorator, with work appearing on Netflix and Food Network.
At the heart of the Taylor Method is a simple passion: helping kids understand themselves, understand the world around them, and feel more capable navigating both.
Sierra's daughter, Emma, was the original inspiration behind the Taylor Method way of teaching. Sierra homeschooled her through age 10, adapting learning to the way Emma actually understood and processed information. Today, Emma is an honors high-school student with a 4.33 GPA and a competitive volleyball player.
In each Life Lab episode, Professor Taylor helps guide the experiment, introduces the question, and brings the lesson together at the end.
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FAQ
Questions? We've Got You.
Quick, honest answers about how Life Lab works.
Contact / Support
Need Help?
Have a question about your membership, a video, or Taylor Method Life Lab? Send us a message and we'll point you in the right direction.
There's so much more for kids to discover.
From figuring out how to handle a difficult friendship to understanding why plants make their own food, there's always something new to explore at Life Lab. Come see what we're learning.
Teach life on purpose.