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At DULI

See you at DULI

by Natalia Moreno

Last weekend I sat down for tea with Carolina Nesi, the easy-going Brazilian woman who started up DULI. For those who haven’t discovered it already, DULI is a unique concept, and a gem for expat families in the heart of Delft. Part international bookstore and part birthday party venue, the English-language workshops — for both kids and adults — sit at the heart and soul of DULI. In this article, I share the fruits of my conversation with Carolina: what DULI is and how it was created.

What is DULI

DULI is part bookstore, part birthday party venue, and focuses on fun workshops for kids and adults in English. What makes it so unique in Delft is that it offers engaging after-school activities for expat kids who have not (yet) mastered the Dutch language. It also offers an easy way for expats to enlarge their expat social circle.

Bookstore

The bookstore is full of fun and educational books in several languages. While browsing, you can enjoy a cup of tea or Brazilian coffee. Bookstore hours are:

Monday-Wednesday 13:30-17:30
Thursday-Friday 10:00-17:30
Saturday 10:30-15:00

Birthday parties

DULI rents out the space for 2-hour birthday parties. The price starts at €120 and includes a workshop for 10 people, including invitations. Food is allowed but must be provided by the host.

Workshops

Regularly-scheduled workshops

DULI offers a host of fun workshops and activities for kids in English. These range from crafts to science to sports. They are offered as an 8-class package over 8 weeks (one class per week) for €80. Individual classes can also be attended for €12 on a drop-in basis. The full list of workshops on offer can be found on their website: http://www.dulidelft.com/childrens-workshops/.

One-day workshops

DULI also offers one-day workshops that do not require any registration. For example, looking for a fun activity on a Saturday and up for some creativity, try a Delft Blue tile painting workshop for kids and adults, taught by Carolina herself.

Adult workshops

DULI offers workshops and talks for adults on Thursdays from 20:00-21:30. They are given by a specialist on a selected topic, usually related to education and child behavior.

Requested workshops

If you have an idea for a (kid or adult) workshop, or are looking for one that is not on offer, Carolina is enthusiastic about discussing requests and ideas.

Workshop location

Depending on the needs of the workshop, the location can be on-site at the DULI bookstore, or at a nearby local school.

The story of DULI’s creation

Carolina’s story

Carolina had always been crazy about books. But the impetus to start DULI was born out of necessity. Together with her husband and two kids, Carolina moved to the Netherlands for work in 2015. They enrolled their kids in the International School, but quickly realized that after-school activities were offered predominantly in Dutch. This left them without a lot of appealing options for stimulating and dynamic after-school activities.

Carolina used her social and business skills to create a network of parents and teachers who were able to teach fun workshops in English to kids of different ages. She rented a classroom at the International School in Delft and organized a variety of eight-week workshops in the afternoon. Carolina was always in search of ways to combine her passion for child development and literature with her business skills. By the beginning of 2017 when her work contract was ending, she decided to take the dive, and in March 2018 she realized her long-term dream – opening DULI.

What does the name mean

From a combination of Duda and Lipe, the nicknames of Carolina’s two children Maria Eduarda and Felipe, the name DULI emerged.

So there you have it. DULI — a great find that offers educational activities for expat adults and kids, in creative, flexible environments right here in Delft.

Enjoy! Genieten! Aproveite!

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The SpeelOké Toy Library: toys for fun and development

Welcome to our first article in a series about toys and play. Is your little one bored with his or her mountain of toys, or are you looking to reduce that mountain without sacrificing variety and quality? Perhaps you are looking to try different types of toys before buying? The SpeelOké toy library in Delft allows your little one to BORROW toys. Read on as Erna Bekink, the chairwoman of the SpeelOké toy library describes what the library is all about.

By: Erna Bekink, SpeelOké toy library

SpeelOké is a toy library in Delft, founded by volunteers to promote playing with all sorts of toys so children can have fun and develop on several dimensions: moving, sensing, developing creativity and fantasy, building and constructing, puzzles, language and thinking games and so on…

Playing is learning

At our library, parents can borrow toys suitable for children from 0 to 12 years old for three weeks. Every three weeks you and your children can select other toys, which allows them to play and have fun with a regularly rotating selection of toys targeting different dimensions of their development.

If you have any questions, ask our volunteers. They are happy to recommend toys that are suitable for your child following the “toy circle,” which we describe briefly below. Our volunteers know what is in stock for each age group and which development phase those toys are suitable.

Toy circle

Description of suitable toys for different developmental areas for children. Source: speelotheken.nl

We make use of the “toy circle” (see figure to the right), a handy guide for choosing toys in all the different development areas: such as movement material, sensory material, fantasy material, etc.

Each category of toys (see the colors in the circle) makes a different contribution to the development of a child. Ask yourself with which category of toys your child plays with regularly, and then choose toys from another category. For example: if you want to stimulate your child’s creativity and fantasy, you can borrow dress-up clothes, Playmobil, a doctor’s set or a doll’s house. These kinds of toys stimulate the imagination of a child.

Subscription

The subscription fee is €10 per year for one family. The administration fee for new subscribers is €3,50.

With one subscription you can borrow three toys every three weeks. You also pay a small amount for every borrowed toy (€0,50, €1 or €1,50 – depending on the value of the toy).

  • Location
    SpeelOké is located at Van Kinschotstraat 21 in Delft.
  • Opening hours
    SpeelOké is open every Saturday morning from 10.00 till 12.00. We are closed during school holidays. Check our opening hours here.

Become a volunteer!

Volunteers spend 3 hours a month helping out at our toy library. Why don’t you join us?

If your children start borrowing toys at SpeelOké, there is a possibility for parents to volunteer–our foundation is run by enthusiastic volunteers who spend around 3 hours per month on a Saturday morning in the SpeelOké toy library.

As a volunteer, you can also take part in other activities such as the PR commission or the toy selection and purchasing commission.

Are you interested in meeting new people and being part of an enthusiastic, cheerful team of volunteers? Don’t hesitate to come by and take a look at our toy library or phone our chairwoman for more information: Erna Bekink at 06-242 06 378 – We would love to meet you!

Notes from the editors:

The editors want to thank Annemarie Laan-Oorthuizen of Bloei for the use of her photos in the article (see her article about the SpeelOké library in Dutch here). Bloei is an extensive online resource with guides and blogs in Dutch for parents of children aged 0-12 living in the Delft area. On Bloei you’ll also find an interactive calendar with a short description of fun kid-friendly activities. Looking for something offered in languages other than Dutch? Check this page regularly for classes, activities, services and relevant websites available in other languages.

Next up in this series, Delft Mama Zdenka Prochazkova talks about using music to help your young child’s development, and how to choose the right musical toys for your little one’s age level. In the meantime, play on!

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GET OUT!

Get Littles Up And Out With Fun Activities Around Delft

Recently relocated to Delft and in search of something to keep your littles active? Or perhaps Lynette Croxford’s recent “How to Delft” blog has inspired you to explore what’s on offer for your primary schoolers outside the classroom. Well thankfully, Delft has a host of activities to keep most children entertained and interested, with the added benefit of helping them integrate into their new surroundings.

But where to start?

To help you coordinate your little’s free time like a native, the Delft Mama blog editing team rounded up a list of fun activities and resources that you and your children can enjoy to make their experience in Delft fun, productive and worthwhile.

So here you go, 6 ways to help your primary school kids GET OUT in Delft.

Get physical with sports

Sports can teach children important lessons in teamwork, patience, and perseverance. It keeps them physically fit as well as teaches them the importance of success through hard work and the acceptance of failure while striving to improve. There are all sorts of sports programs offered by schools and organizations in Delft. Here are just a few.

Express the artist within

Do you have a young Brando, a musical Streisand, a budding Picasso or an impressive Baryshnikov at home? Then check out Delft’s various venues that help nurture little creatives.

From art to theatre, music and dance, the VAK is a one-stop shop for most forms of artistic self-expression. But creative exploration doesn’t stop there. Delft offers a range of artistic venues and associated professionals eager to foster your young one’s inner artist.

Take it to the extreme

Extreme sport that is.

Does your little trendsetter prefer riding their skateboard or cruising around on their BMX over dealing with the structure of soccer practice or swim lessons? Then perhaps it’s time to consider a more ‘extreme sport’ for your little rebel. There seems to be an increasing attraction to the individuality and athletic self-expression that hallmarks extreme sports.  Here are just some ways kids go extreme in Delft.

Okay, these next three officially aren’t IN Delft, but they’re rather close by and worth the honorary mention.

Observe Delft’s nature & wildlife

Head outdoors for some fresh air in the local Delft woods. Delft and the surrounding area has numerous lakes, beaches, old windmills, and playgrounds. Use this wealth of outdoor space to introduce your littles to scouting, gardening or plain old outdoor fun.

If scouting camps aren’t your kid’s jam, Delft also offers a couple other interesting outdoor alternatives.

Unleash the mind

Help your littles improve their learning, thinking, analytical, strategic and decision-making abilities with frequent mental exercise.  As a university town, Delft offers quite a few options that allow children to expand their learning in fun new environments. In addition to the DOK (Delft’s libraries), here are a few options to help them further stimulate that gray matter.

Take a trip to a Museum

The Netherlands is home to a number of fantastic museums and as luck would have it, some of them can be found right here in Delft. Here’s a list of just a few.

Get started and GET OUT!

There you have it, a few fun activities and resources for keeping your primary school children  (and perhaps even you) occupied and engaged outside of the classroom.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. In fact, we’d like to make this a ‘living document’ with annual or bi-annual updates through inputs from you. So let us know in the comments if you have recommendations for other after-school activities available here in Delft.

For now, this list offers a good start with a wealth of options for your littles to GET OUT in Delft.

 

 

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