With 2020’s rolling lockdowns and the new lockdown restrictions South Africa faces in 2021, we are sure that you, like many other parents, are looking for ways to keep your children entertained and educated without spending more of your hard-earned, already allocated income.

With the Department of Basic Education announcing an additional two weeks of school closures before the 2021 school year can commence, Thanda, the KwaZulu Natal based non-profit organisation, has been designing and implementing curricula for children for more than 12 years.

ThandaLEARN is a free and data-free online learning tool which caters for both English and isiZulu speaking children, which is underpinned by these years of experience whilst the fun and engaging activities have proven to build social-emotional skills in children aged two to 15.

The online platform is packed with resources and for each storybook there is a video reading of the book, a discussion of the book themes, a parent workshop to help guide parents/ guardians/ facilitators on how to discuss the story with their child, and a step by step fun, low resource activities related to the story!

The social-emotional skills developed in both children and adults through these activities has never been more critical as we navigate the grief and fear the world is currently experiencing.

Resilience, empathy, and perspectives are skills many children learn through social engagement and encouraging environments; however, due to lockdowns, many children are not getting the social interaction they require to develop these skills.

Storybooks serve as a wonderful tool to continue social-emotional development. Kirsten Nash of Thanda said that with the education gap already at a large divide in South Africa and many children living in conditions with limited learning resources and access to data, there is a desperate need to provide learning opportunities accessible at home.

“For some children, their household may not contain a single book! The coronavirus outbreak resulted in the Department of Basic Education working closely with network providers in approving online learning resources to receive a ‘zero data bill’ to the end-user,” said Mrs Nash. With ThandaLEARN as an approved resource on this list, children can enjoy storybooks and learning material at no data charge. All they need is a smartphone.

Visit Thanda’s Creative Learning Portal – https://thanda.org/library/ – to enjoy the wonder of storybooks and fun activities for yourself!

Contact: Kirstin Nash at krowbotham@thanda.org or visit: www.thanda.org

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