Learning through play: Sport and play-based early childhood development

Learning through play: Sport and play-based early childhood development

The toolkit published by the Swiss Academy for Development primarily addresses practitioners in the field but programme designers may also find it a helpful resource. The aim is to encourage the use of sport in early childhood development (ECD), give step-by-step instructions that are easy to follow and provide tools that can be adapted easily.

The toolkit was developed to be used by Move 4 New Horizons (M4NH) project staff in Nepal. It is based upon field-experience and draws on the Swiss Academy for Development’s experience in using sport and play as educational tools. For a better understanding of the programme, Part 1 “Programme design” provides background information on the ECD component and points out the guiding principles that informed its conceptualisation. The sport and play-based approach of M4NH is introduced and the specifics of how the different curriculum areas contribute to the holistic development of a young child and their school readiness is explained.

Part 2

“Principles and practical guidance” is intended to provide field-level staff working at the ECD centres with practical guidance and recommendations on how to create an optimal learning environment in order to give every child the best possible start in their education.

Part 3

“Playful activities and games” and Part 4 “Learning aids and toys” consist of a compilation of activities related to the curriculum areas and instructions on how to prepare low-cost learning aids with locally available materials.