Four-year-old Vaishnavi showing a cabbage art at an ECD centre in Raigad district of India’s Maharashtra State.
“Earlier, I could not tell the difference between a cabbage and a cauliflower…now, I know all the fruits and vegetables that we eat!” says 4-year-old Vaishnavi, one of the 30 children enrolled in an Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in the Raigad district of Maharashtra state, where ChildFund works in 43 rural villages. “Cauliflower is my favourite vegetable, and it contains many vitamins,” she adds.
Vaishnavi’s best friend, Ashok, is more interested in animals, particularly lions. He explains that the lion is the king of the jungle. “You know, a lion won’t kill other animals if it is not hungry,” the preschooler says, recalling a story that his teacher told them the other day.
Ashok (4) Demonstrating How Lions & Tigers Roar
According to Dr. Virendra Kulkarni, program manager of PRIDE India, ChildFund’s local partner organization in this area, young children explore visual art with both a creative and a scientific eye.
“Through art, they not only identify objects and concepts clearly, they try to explore everything related to them,” he explains. “Wall paintings are one of the best ways to make children know many things through visual expression. Our role is to provide them with materials and inspiration, then to stand back and let them go.”
Shanta Ghatge, a tutor at the ECD centre, agrees: “Wall paintings, posters and other wall decorations not only make the classrooms look great, but they also make learning easy for children and remind them of concepts.
“We cannot just talk all the time in class,” she adds. “Children need to be stimulated in their learning, and we need such wall paintings, posters and other teaching aids to make their learning interesting.”
Tutor Shanta Ghatge and children acting on a story at an ECD centre in Raigad district of India’s Maharashtra State.
Ghatge, who has been an ECD teacher in the area for more than 20 years, says she follows a curriculum adopted by ChildFund to teach the preschoolers, and their routine includes examining paintings, writing, singing, storytelling, drawing and painting.
“Although the children like almost all the activities, the most favourite for them has been creating their own art,” Ghatge says. “I often give out drawing sheets and watercolours to them and ask them to make some art. They just love this activity.”
Research has shown that participating in art, music and storytelling activities helps children develop language, mathematics and social skills. “These essential activities can help the young brain develop to its fullest capacity,” Dr. Kulkarni says. “In all our ECD centers, we use learning methods that are recognized as best practices for preschoolers.
“One of them is using rhythm to help children develop patterning abilities and make relationships between the rhythm, beat and words,” he explains. “There are a lot of local language rhymes that teachers use to improve children’s patterning ability, while toys and other aids are used to improve their motor skills.”
Ghatge points out that the children also have fun in the classroom. “Amidst all this noise, we certainly know one thing: These children are learning while enjoying their childhoods.”
Children like Ashok and Vaishnavi thrive at our child friendly centres, giving them a happier, healthier childhood and better life chances as they grow older. Your intervention can have have a huge impact on the lives of children like these, and in doing so, you can also help their local communities, who also benefit from the scheme. To find out more about sponsoring a child, click here
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