Activities for Early Childhood Development

Early childhood development activities series is one of UNICEF Jordan programmes implemented for parents and caregivers as part of child protection positive parenting programme. These activities aim to enable caregivers to adopt effective communication skills and apply positive, non-violent discipline methods with their children, which improves children's readiness for learning in school, and integrates basic principles of learning and development in fun and interactive activities that can be conducted at home with minimal cost.

A wide body of research on infant and childhood development shows that nurturing, responsive and stimulating interactions between young children and their parents and caregivers positively and permanently strengthens the ability to learn with the possibility of changing brain function for life.

The programme began in 1996 in response to a survey that revealed a lack of knowledge about the importance of nurturing care, especially the role of play, in early childhood development. 

By 2022, more than 280,000 parents and caregivers acquired improved knowledge about proper childcare through this programme, which corresponds to approximately 460,000 children benefiting from improved care practices at home. Many of them have reported positive changes in their childrearing approaches because of the programme. 

ECD activities are categorized into 5 age groups:

Activities for newborn babies till 1 year old

Educational activities aimed at developing different skills for children that are between 0-1 year old, such as communication, social and emotional skills.