‘SESAME AND BERRY’
Dhineli de Zilwa is an aspiring mother of twin boys, leading ‘Sesame and Berry,’ the Instagram brand that aims in making early learning simple, fun and engaging. Sharing with us her play-based learning journey, she explained how her play-based learning community (@sesameandberry) grew significantly within a year.
Q CAN YOU TELL US HOW THIS WHOLE THING STARTED?
Our play based learning journey started over a year ago when I realised my boys needed help with their speech. I was told by a speech therapist that I needed to be more involved in their play and change the way we play at home. That’s exactly what I did. I got involved in playing, setting up really simple, fun and engaging activities for them and we saw an instant improvement.
Q WHAT KIND OF PRODUCTS ARE SEEN IN YOUR BRAND?
Currently we have a variety of products such as Sensory Tables, Kids Activity Book, Sticker Packs, Activity Packs, Bookish Play Boxes with props, Sensory Play Mats & Craft Boxes.
Q HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME ‘SESAME AND BERRY’ FOR YOUR BRAND?
So this is an interesting story. When my husband and I found out I was pregnant, we were really surprised. I didn’t know what to expect so I downloaded an app and it told me that my baby was the size of a sesame seed. So I decided to call the baby “Sesame”. But then, we found out at our first scan that we were having twins. By that time the baby had grown to the size of a berry and I called my second baby “Berry”. When I started this page initially it wasn’t meant to be a business venture. It was just a page for me to keep track of our play journey so I named it after the boys nick names.
Q WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY OF TEACHING LITTLE CHILDREN?
Play based teaching has been very effective in our household. This method of teaching allows children to discover their own interest, work on new skills at their own pace, build on their speech and most importantly they are free to explore and imagine without feeling pressurised to keep up with a curriculum.
Our play based learning journey started over a year ago when I realised my boys needed help with their speech. I was told by a speech therapist that I needed to be more involved in their play and change the way we play at home
Q WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST ENJOYABLE LEARNING/ TEACHING METHOD SO FAR?
Definitely the most enjoyable teaching method so far has been bookish play. The props help the child see the book come to life. Then they are able to retell and act out the story using their own words and imagination.
Q HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH NEW METHODS TO KEEP THE KIDS ENTERTAINED AND LESS DISTRACTED?
With my boys, I look at their current interests and build activities around that. I come up with fun ways to work on skills that they need to work on. For example, when I first introduced colours we used a simple egg carton and coloured Popsicle sticks. You don’t really need fancy equipment or toys.
Q HAVE YOU FACED ANY CHALLENGES DURING TEACHING?
It’s not always rainbows and butterflies. We have our good days where we are engaged and excited to learn something new and then there are days where we don’t want to do anything. Which is fine. On days like that I bring out a new toy or a puzzle, we sit and colour or we go outdoors and blow bubbles or go on a nature hunt.
Q WHAT DO YOU THINK IS IMPORTANT WHEN DESIGNING ENVIRONMENTS THAT PROMOTE PLAY?
It’s important to have an open space for children to be able to move about freely. Large benchtops/ tables with a few different toys, puzzles, books so that the child can make a choice with what is available to play and are not overwhelmed with 25 options. I also like to display their arts and crafts so that they know that their hard work and their creativity is appreciated.
Q DO YOU RECEIVE FEEDBACK FROM OTHER PARENTS? WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST ENCOURAGING?
I’ve had parents who have tried our products, our sensory set ups and activities that have come back saying that their children absolutely loved it. There are some parents who didn’t think their child was capable of certain activities in packs and were really surprised to see how capable their child actually was. I started story time for children. I read a story book every Sunday and the response to that has been pretty amazing.
Q DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR PARENTS?
Spend more time actually playing with your children. The time you spend playing, crafting, reading with your child is NEVER time wasted.