For years, I felt that I had lost valuable professional development time while dedicating myself to raising and integrating my children into a life full of transitions. But one day, looking back, I realized that this life journey was actually the platform for my professional growth.

The play-based approach was developed over a decade of raising our young children across seven countries, five in Eastern Europe, a journey that profoundly shaped my parenting and educational approach.

While my academic degree in physical education and my prior professional experience highlighted the importance of healthy physical, mental, and emotional growth, being a present mother who strived to create a growth-oriented play environment tailored to her children's needs and spending long hours playing with them powerfully demonstrated the tremendous impact of the experiential, interactive play worlds on children's development, the extent of their connection to themselves and the strength of their relationships with friends, and family members.

Being exposed to so many educational systems, from nurseries to middle schools, has taught me the most profound impact that different educational and teaching approaches have on children’s ability to cultivate feelings of visibility, competence, and belonging, regardless of who they are or where they come from. This experience inspired me to create a comprehensive tool that collectively responds to a wide scale of children's developmental and value-based needs.

The play-based approach developed over the years in quiet spaces through long hours dedicated to creating game models that encapsulate numerous logical potentials for diverse and ongoing playfulness. In 2017, after relocating and settling my family in New Jersey, I dared to take my first steps in working with children based on the playful concept that kept developing over the years.

I was privileged to conduct hundreds of versatile workshops for children of all ages, classes, programs at summer camps, extracurricular programs in educational settings, and even my boutique creative summer camps. Over the years, I led large-scale community projects based on the multifaced game approach.

During this period, I’ve also taught swim lessons and Hebrew classes. This profound experience has reinforced and highlighted the diversity among children and the importance of offering a consistent and adaptable response to this eternal diversity to allow every child to find their place to shine in any era of development and any educational system.

In 2023, I formed workshops and tutorials for parents and professionals to foster vital, creative development in the screen age.

My book B SmART 'n PLAY- Play, Explore, Connect, and have endless fun with games YOU create was published in 2017.

This year, I’m focusing all my resources on training those who engage with children—at home, in classrooms, in therapeutic settings, and in non-formal educational environments—to incorporate key elements of the educational and play-based approach that can make childhood in the 21st century more holistic, creative, and supportive of mental, emotional, and physical well-being.

Sincerely, Bell