Community Highlights: Meet Bianca Sisillo of Inspired Play Cafe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bianca Sisillo.

Hi Bianca, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Hello, I am Bianca, CEO + Founder of INSPIRED Play Café. I am a woman of great faith and a mother to an incredibly loving boy, Auggie. From a young, as I can recall, I’ve had a natural love and connection for children. Without effort, I have always been fascinated by understanding and observing human behavior, specifically, why we do what we do and what motivates us?

As a teenager, I had a vision from God and at that time all I could see when I closed my eyes tightly was the building INSPIRED Play Cafe is currently in but it was empty. Many years later, when I became a mom, I began getting more pieces to the puzzle. I knew I would build a space where children could gather to be loved, to learn, and to grow. This was only the beginning.

I grew up in Overland Park, KS, and graduated from Johnson County Community College in 2013 with an associate’s degree in Criminal Justice. I went on to study further (yes, I loved school) and graduated from the University of Kansas in 2016, with my degrees in Applied Behavior Analysis and Psychology. At KU, I also did a year-long practicum in a laboratory for Organizational Behavioral Management.

After college, I took an exam and became credentialed as a Registered Behavior Technician (Behavior Therapist). I then worked clinically for seven years, specializing in providing 1:1 ABA Therapy for children with autism and behavioral difficulties, ages two through teenage years. Finally, I was a stay-at-home mother after Auggie was born and up until I began building this business.

It was here, the beginning of motherhood, where I noticed an immediate demand and lack of indoor places for children. Not only was this concept lacking, but so was the educational and nutritious piece to “play places”. That is when I began researching and self-teaching educational methods to play. Soon after, I changed my home environment and lifestyle to reflect a play-learning environment for my son and other children who would come to our home to visit.

I also began to share my son’s educational play journey with other moms and friends through social media by creating an “AuggiesMontessori” account. This is when I noticed the sincere and deep interest others had in learning and experiencing educational play and the environments in their own lives. At this moment, I became INSPIRED to bring my teenage God-given vision its first breath of life!

INSPIRED play cafe brings together the relationship between an educational environment for the whole child and a cafe with nutritious food and beverage for the engaged community.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Outside of motherhood, opening a business has been one of the most testings to the faith experiences I have encountered to this point.

What is remarkable is that I have been able to meet the monthly needs of the business every month since I’ve been open, not leaning on any loan money or assistance. While there are daily challenges in a business, if you are able to withstand the day-to-day ups and downs without affecting your performance and attitude, I believe that you can succeed.

Opening the first business, you learn so much. What is beautiful about this is the next business will not suffer from what the first business had to.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
INSPIRED Play Cafe is a positive, nutritious, and educational play cafe located in Overland Park, KS. We bridge the gap between a thoughtfully designed educational play environment + a full-service cafe with quality, nutritious food, and beverage! We are dedicated to building a community of families to support the early stages of children’s lives while providing an environment tailored to that!

We stand for encouraging parents to feed into every aspect of their children by creating an environment that will promote the whole child’s development, learning, creativity, exploration, and social skills. At INSPIRED Play Cafe we promise to keep up to date on educational methods of play and learning and to provide an always-evolving environment. We desire to connect with the community on multifaceted levels, creating lasting relationships throughout the nation.

The owner has a background in Behavioral Analysis, along with 7-years of clinical work as an individual play therapist for children with ASD & other behavioral diagnoses. Further, the owner studied Montessori and other educational methods of play, to enhance her background knowledge in how to design an environment best fit best for children’s development and engagement at all levels.  WHY INSPIRED PLAY CAFE? (see below).

+ Play environment is thoughtfully designed using research-based practices and educational, multi-purpose toys and materials. There is a strategy behind how and where materials are placed and manipulated.

+ Every few weeks, toys are rotated to inspire and maintain an engaged, ever-evolving space for children.

+ Bridges the gap between your a coffee shop & nutritious cafe + educationally inspired play environment

+ Limits their capacity to 30 children per 2 hour play period and promotes a soft, simple, and clean aesthetic and feel

+ Offers educational classes and special events, further educating all children and adults who visit. Some examples are music class, Spanish music and storytime, sensory and storytime, and movement led by a pediatric physical therapist.

+ Is a private event and celebration space, where you can have the WHOLE building to yourself at a great price and with BYO party options- up to 20 children and 30 adults!

Pricing:

• $19 first child and $6 for each additional sibling
• ​MOHTLY MEMBERSHIP- $49/ 1 child / per month $69/ 2 sibling / per month $89/ 3+ siblings / per month.
• 6 MONTH COMMITMENT- ​$39 / 1 child / per month $59 / 2 siblings / per month $79 / 3+ siblings / per month.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://www.inspiredplaycafe.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspiredplaycafe/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inspiredplaycafe/