About Positive Penguins

Helping kids tell themselves a kinder story.

Positive Penguins started with a simple idea: that the way we talk to ourselves shapes how we feel. We can't always pick our first emotion — but we can almost always pick the next thought.

What we believe

Three ideas at the heart of the app.

01

Feelings start with thoughts

The same situation can leave one child calm and another in tears — because feelings follow thoughts, not events.

02

Negative thoughts aren't wrong

They're information. Sometimes they're true; sometimes they're not. Either way, they can be examined.

03

Kids can learn this — early

With the right scaffolding, even six-year-olds can catch unhelpful thinking and choose a more realistic story.

How it began

A small idea, shared widely.

The idea

From classroom to phone

The strategy at the heart of Positive Penguins came from working with children directly — watching how a simple thought-challenging exercise transformed their week.

2014

Top 10 Paid Education App

Positive Penguins won a Top 10 spot in the Apps For All Challenge — an early signal that this little tool was helping kids beyond the original classroom.

Today

In homes and schools worldwide

The app is now used by parents, teachers, counsellors and children across the world — quiet, calm, and as evergreen as the strategies inside it.

The four Positive Penguin characters
Behind the app

Developed by Sara Price.

Sara Price is the founder of Positive Penguins. She built the app at 11 years old to help children understand and manage their emotions. By 2014, Sara had won the Australian Tech Girls Are Superheroes nation-wide search and was presenting at conferences and schools across the country — becoming one of the youngest voices in the children's mental health technology space.

Since then, Sara has completed a double degree in Psychology and Medical Science, and in early 2026 began her PhD in Neuroscience — researching how the developing brain is wired, and the circuitry that shapes thoughts, feelings, and behaviours from before birth through adulthood. Outside the lab, Sara has spent years working directly alongside young people across childcare, support work, and tutoring, keeping her research grounded in the lives it's ultimately for.

She knows firsthand that emotional literacy is foundational for mental health. The early years are critical — when the brain is at its most adaptable and the habits we build can shape mental health across a lifetime. Sara's goal is to empower every child with the language to understand their own emotions, through tools that are accessible, evidence-based, and built with genuine care for how young minds work.

Get in touch

Sara Price, founder of Positive Penguins
Get the app

Try Positive Penguins yourself.

For kids, for parents, for teachers — for anyone who wants to challenge their thinking.

Download on the App Store