Hello,

My name is Bell Telem Goudsmit. I’m an educator specializing in holistic, creative, and empowering child development. I’m the Founder, Developer, and Creator of a multidisciplinary, developmental game concept, B SmART 'n PLAY, designed to nurture healthy growth and creativity in children.

The play-based approach was developed and shaped over a 10-year journey of raising my children in seven countries, five of them in Eastern Europe. This period of my life has profoundly influenced my parenting and educational philosophy. While my B. Ed in physical education provided insights into what children need to grow physically and mentally; our life experiences revealed the more profound need for children to feel seen, loved, and capable. This emotional foundation is the key to their happiness and self-esteem.

I gained first-hand knowledge of different educational methods through exposure to various school systems, from nursery to middle school. I observed the influence of multiple teaching approaches and educational frameworks on children's development. I learned how profound and far-reaching play and multisensory experiences impact children's motor, social, emotional, and cognitive development and their ability to build social confidence, belief in their abilities, and a strong sense of vitality.

While my young kids were at their educational institutions, I dove into my private kingdom of thoughtful creation each morning. There, connections began to form between my professional knowledge and experience, my deep love for art, and the insights I had gathered from our way of life.

Step by step, the idea of multifaceted game models that combine the worlds of creativity, critical thinking, imagination, and movement started to emerge, creating a foundation for social and versatile gameplay at different difficulty levels.

When we moved to New Jersey in 2014, I arrived equipped with 12 interconnected game sets, each encapsulating the concept's principles. In 2017, my book "B SmART 'n PLAY- Play, Explore, Connect, and have endless fun with games YOU create" was published. However, the concept's most significant growth and proof that it works and essentially and comprehensively impacts children's creative and empowering development came through working with them.

Hundreds of projects based on the concept have emerged over the seven years since I began teaching in various extracurricular programs, workshops, summer camps, and enrichment programs. I have realized how effectively this method helps connect children from an emotional place back to the multi-sensory worlds, helping them to substantially stretch play time without searching for screens. It was fascinating to see children, initially addicted to screens, successfully reconnect with the physical world and enjoy an experiential and creative realm of play.

Interlinking creativity, movement, critical thinking, imagination, and social play through game sets that children create—processes that allow them to express their style and way of thinking—demonstrated their ability to generate ongoing and diverse play from a place of passion and inner connection.

After years of fieldwork, research, and development, the time has come to share this extraordinary work method with educators, therapists, and other professionals who devote their lives to children's vital, holistic growth. This way of work not only helps to reconnect children to what truly matters for their healthy growth fascinatingly but also affects our ability, as adults, to swim in endless creativity, immerse ourselves in high levels of critical thinking, and imbue ourselves with mental flexibility.