Our vision is to empower children and youth to thrive, actively engage, and reach their full potential. We aim to provide services and educational programs that support them in growing into self-confident and happy individuals who succeed in all areas of life and become leaders of tomorrow.
Our focus areas are:
Creative Skills Factory’s mission is to consistently expand its reach by offering high-quality educational programs and therapy services that focus on skills development, emotional wellbeing, and holistic support—addressing physical, mental, and social needs—for children, youth, caregivers, and teachers in all communities across the Overstrand, leaving no child behind, using creativity as a tool for transformation.
Using movement, sensory stimulation and play activities to enhance children’s early Development.
Many young children in South Africa struggle to develop the foundational skills necessary for learning due to a lack of early stimulation and emotional support in communities affected by trauma, violence, and poverty.
We believe that by providing children with comprehensive support and stimulation during their early developmental years, and by equipping caregivers with creative tools to nurture their children’s growth through play, movement and sensory stimulation we can help set them on a path to long-term success in all aspects of life.
Creative Skills Factory currently operates in the rural communities of Masakhane/Gansbaai and Stanford in the Overstrand Region of the Western Cape, South Africa.
Creative Skills Factory is a registered Non-Profit Company (NPC 2017/513502/08),
Non-Profit Organisation (NPO 200-368) and a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO 930064052).
Creative Skills Factory’s interventions support children and youth to grow and develop – becoming confident individuals capable of dealing constructively with challenges of the future through expansion of their own capabilities and who will contribute to an effective socio-economic solution in years to come.
We provide skills development training and holistic support to parents, caregivers and teachers, taking into consideration the physical, mental, emotional and social aspects of child development in our Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Foundation Phase programmes by offering caregivers workshops and classroom intervention and teacher support in the Region’s schools
We use various creative, literacy, and arts and culture modalities such as music, singing, poetry, arts and crafts, art, drama, movement (dance and yoga) and horse riding, as tools in our after-school workshops to stimulate and educate children in all aspects of life while developing their creativity.
During the school holidays, we offer workshops in safe and nurturing environments where children aged between 5 and 13 years old can express themselves freely, thrive, engage and participate to their full potential.
The Occupational Therapy program aims to share professional knowledge and resources by training our ECD facilitation team and empowering parents to support Early Childhood Development (ECD) in the Overstrand
Our after-school centre, The Learning Tree, marks a key milestone for our organisation and is officially registered with the Department of Social Development. Located in Stanford, it is the HUB for our inclusive Arts and Cultural program and ECD community program
Our future vision is to create The Play Bus, a mobile education and play centre that aims to reach children and their families in under-resourced areas all over South Africa / the Overberg, while offering educational activities on a regular basis or in the form of workshops and projects.
In April, our team at the Learning Tree participated in multiple enriching training opportunities, reinforcing our commitment to continuous learning and development. A highlight this month was a two-day after-school
A new and EXCITING collaboration – Creative Skills Factory is a participant in a new collaboration in the Overstrand with WOMAD South Africa.A collaboration aiming to nurture young South African talent and
The Learning Tree After School Centre in Stanford is buzzing with creativity! This month, the kids have been crafting, playing movement games, and diving into storytelling to spark their imagination
As we step into a new year, we are excited and committed to our founding vision: using creativity as a powerful tool for transformation.This year, we return to our roots with a
October held more excitement for the Stanford children in the week leading up to the annual Festival of Community Arts. Creative Skills Factory’s children’s drama and music Showcase and Celebration
The Stanford Children’s Art Exhibition on the 26th of September showcased not only the art of the children who participate in Creative Skills Factory’s Stanford and Gansbaai after-school workshops –
STAR Search In a previous blog on our website, we told you all about STAR Search and the talented youth in the Overstrand. The young finalists of the STAR Search
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the PLAY instinct .” ~ Carl Jung The June school holidays started off with an exciting and
“Play turns out to be stunningly essential in childhood, it’s like love, sunshine and broccoli, all juiced together.” Lenore Skenazy Our Early Learning Programme at Die Bron Primary School in Stanford and
In our Arts & Cultural Appreciation Programme, our Overstrand youth development initiative – in collaboration with Rockpool Media and the Stanford Festival of Community Arts organizing team, is GROWING… “Star Search” was
The creative skills factory early learning program started with a simple aim which is to equip and support children from an early age on all levels of development. Currently the
The Legacy of the Penny Whistle together with MIAGI – ‘Music is a great Investment’ (https://www.miagi.co.za/). MIAGI generously makes one of South Africa’s most outstanding penny whistle virtuosos, Jack Lerole
We invite you to be part of our journey – to get involved or to invest in a brighter future for many children in the Overstrand.
Creative Skills Factory is entirely funded by the generosity of our donors. Just R150 can make a big difference in the life of some of our most vulnerable children.
Creative Skills Factory is a registered NPO and PBO – South African Section 18A tax receipts can be issued for all donations.
