DUBAI: After a summer of endlessly entertaining the little ones and months of distance learning before that, parents could very well be exhausted. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle Enter Lea’s Kit, packs of fun yet educational games for children aged 1-5 that are hand-made in the UAE by Lebanese mother-daughter duo Hoda Nasser Yamoud and Lara Yamoud Bitar and their loved ones, who are all involved in the family endeavor. The kits are offered in English and Arabic, a boon for children growing up in a multi-lingual household and a lifesaver for parents struggling to find kid-friendly learning tools in both languages. Both Hoda and her daughter Lara are experienced kindergarten teachers who, as of this summer, took the plunge as business founders after the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) saw multiple women in the family lose their teaching jobs. After the official launch of Lea’s Kit on Aug. 8, more than 450 packs have already been sold through www.leaskit.com — and there is no sign of slowing down. While the emphasis is on children aged 3-4 — with kits to help kids grasp the alphabet, colors and counting, as well as number and letter tracing — there are also bundles for babies aged 1-2 and older children aged 4-5. Sensory kits are available for the tiny tots, with home-made Play-Doh and flour-based safe sand to keep them occupied, while parents with 5-year-old children can opt for rhyming games and phonic tools in both languages. “The 13 primary activities that we launched with were all in English,” Lara’s husband, Jad Bitar, told Arab News. “But when we launched the Arabic activities, everyone went crazy. People were still interested in the English activities, only now they were buying both.” While the products are currently available on the brand’s website, Jad added that selling via commission-driven, region-wide platforms such as mumzworld.com or ecosouk.me could be an option in the future, depending on sales in the coming months. “For us, every dirham is sensitive,” he said. “You may see a kit that costs 100AED ($27), and we have had some comments saying, ‘Oh wow, that’s expensive,’ but one kit can take an hour to an hour-and-a-half to produce. So, the time and effort behind it, the cost of the materials, the cost of packaging is substantial. We might do it to get more traction around the brand but, honestly, for now things are working without going that way. “Everything is being done at home, everyone is fully hands-on, working up until 3 a.m., 4 a.m. We just want to see this work,” he added.