Themes:
Playful Parenting
Parents and other primary caregivers are children’s first, most important and life-long teachers. The parent-child relationship is unique and significant. This bond is established and cemented through consistent positive interactions which are critical to two major areas of child development: skills development and emotional wellbeing. Caregivers have the power to mold their children’s brains and set them up for a positive life trajectory and the first three years of a child’s life are a particularly important time for learning and development.
The brain develops rapidly in this period of a child’s life, producing more than a million neural connections each second. By building nurturing bonds and strong relationships, parents and/or primary caregivers help children feel safe to take risks and explore the world, which in turn allows them to build new neural connections in their brain. Positive and stimulating interactions between children and their parents and/or primary caregivers, especially through play, are critical to healthy development. Evidence from many, diverse countries indicates that when parents and caregivers engage in quality play and positive interactions, it results in improved learning outcomes that continue throughout children’s lives.
Play is a crucial, fun and an easy way for parents to support children’s development. It provides the context for meaningful exchanges between caregivers and children that can reduce stress and anxiety and create shared experiences and emotions that build strong neural connections in the brain. Parent-child play also supports three out of five components of the Nurturing Care Framework that children need to survive and thrive: responsive caregiving, opportunities for early learning, and security and safety.
This thematic page includes resources about parenting and in particular playful parenting for implementing agencies, policy makers, donors and most importantly for parents and caregivers!
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Resources
General Websites
UNICEF – Parenting Hub https://www.unicef.org/parenting/
Arab Network for Early Childhood Development (ANECD) Parenting Hub: Ujouha, https://www.urjouha.net/
Reach Up and Learn package – https://reachupandlearn.com/
Care for Child Development package – https://www.unicef.org/documents/care-child-development
Parenting for Lifelong Health’s, https://www.covid19parenting.com/home
LEGO Foundation Playlist https://playlist.legofoundation.com/activities/
Vroom – https://www.vroom.org/
Vroom: Everyone has what it takes to be a Brain Builder!, https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/vroom/
Vroom: Brain building 101: What every parent should know, https://www.vroom.org/science
Cambridge University, Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) Hub: Resource Library Pandemic Resources https://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/pedal/
Play Pieces https://www.pedalhub.org.uk/play-pieces
UNICEF Caring for the Caregiver, https://www.unicef.org/documents/caring-caregiver
Briefs and Reports
LEGO Foundation, What we mean by Playful Parenting in the Early Years, https://www.legofoundation.com/en/learn-how/knowledge-base/what-we-mean-by-playful-parenting-in-the-early-years/
Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan University, Institute for Human Development, The Role of the Health Sector in Advancing Nurturing Care: AKDN Syria’s Implementation of Care for Child Development, https://akflearninghub.org/documents/the-role-of-the-health-sector-in-advancing-nurturing-care-akdn-syrias-implementation-of-care-for-child-development/
Program Guidance/Courses/Applications
Harvard Center on the Developing Child, Building Babies’ Brains Through Play: Mini Parenting Master Class
Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan University, Institute for Human Development, Working with Parents of Young Children, https://akflearninghub.org/courses/early-childhood/working-with-parents-of-young-children/
Aga Khan Foundation and Aga Khan University, Institute for Human Development, Designing Parenting Programs, https://akflearninghub.org/courses/early-childhood/designing-parenting-programmes/
Reach Up and Learn: Parent Manual Activities for children up to age 3 years, https://reachupandlearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Parent-Manual_ReachUp-2020_0.pdf
Vroom Parenting Application, https://app.vroom.org/?lng=en
The Best Start in Life: Early Childhood Development for Sustainable Development MOOC, https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/mooc-best-start-life-early-childhood-development-sustainable-development/
Research
Cong Z., Cubbin, C. & Ci, Q. (2019) “Parenting stress and mother– child playful interaction: the role of emotional support”, Journal of Family Studies, 25:2, 101-115, https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2016.1200113
Landry, S. Smith, K. and Swank, P. (2003), “The Importance of Parenting During Early Childhood for School-Age Development”, Developmental Neuropsychology, 24:2-3, 559-591, https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2003.9651911
Wilton, K. et al (2017), “Parenting in Displacement: Adapting Vroom for Displaced Syrian Families”, https://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/document/2086/parentingindisplacementreport-single-101917.pdf
Jeong, J. et al, (2021), “Parenting interventions to promote early child development in the first three years of life: A global systematic review and meta-analysis”, PLOS Medicine, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003602
Blogs
ECDAN and ANECD (2021), A Celebration of Parents Around the World and a Call to Action to Support Them https://ecdan.org/posts/news/a-celebration-of-parents-around-the-world-and-a-call-to-action-to-support-them/
ECDAN, ANECD and Promundo (2021), Father’s Day Blog
ECDAN and ANECD (2021), Parenting interventions to promote early child development in the first three years of life: A global systematic review and meta-analysis, https://ecdan.org/posts/news/a-celebration-of-parents-around-the-world-and-a-call-to-action-to-support-them/
Shah, S. and James, S. (2021), The transformative power of parents – AKF launches two new courses to underscore the vital role that parents play in child development https://www.akf.org.uk/the-transformative-power-of-parents-akf-launches-two-new-courses-to-underscore-the-vital-role-that-parents-play-in-child-development/
Laverty, C. (2019), Playful Parenting in the early years, LEGO Foundation, https://www.legofoundation.com/en/learn-how/blog/playful-parenting-in-the-early-years/
Cohen, L. (2018), Tips for Playful Parenting, LEGO Foundation, https://www.legofoundation.com/en/learn-how/blog/tips-for-playful-parenting/
Ramchandani, P., Fathers and Play, https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/playtime-with-dad-may-improve-childrens-self-control
Video Clips
Father-son conversation, Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY35eXTKVLY
Father-son conversation, Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3RvhJCTuds
Recording of Past Events
CCD Implementation in East Africa: Experiences from Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3-lZjpsd6Y
Covid-19 & Parent and Caregiver Support in Emergencies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-8hemJ5E3M
ISSA, The Role of Parenting Support Programs in Promoting and Sustaining Playful Parenting, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g5164mf09c
Aga Khan Foundation, The transformative power of parents: AKF launches two new courses to underscore the viral role that parents play in child development,
The International Step-by-Step Association (ISSA), UNICEF Serbia, Lego Foundation, Supportive ‘’orbit(s)’’ around family playful parenting – An engine for creating supportive family-centered networks at the local level, https://nurturing-care.org/events/supportive-orbits-around-family-playful-parenting/
ISSA, UNICEF, Lego Foundation, “Caring for Caregivers: A Path Towards Playful Parenting”, https://www.issa.nl/content/webinar-caring-caregivers-path-towards-better-parenting-and-early-childhood-experience
The Nurturing care framework for early childhood development: A framework for helping children SURVIVE and THRIVE to TRANS- FORM health and human potential builds upon state-of-the art evidence of how child development unfolds and of the effective policies and interventions that can improve early childhood de- velopment.