The early years of children’s lives are very crucial, because during this period, sensory, motor, cognitive and socio-emotional development takes place at the highest rate, in children. Therefore, it is very important that in their early years, children develop positive experiences that will give them opportunities to learn and grow, which will build the foundation of their journey towards adulthood and the following successes. A good Early Childhood Development (ECD) program makes a positive contribution to children’s long-term development and learning by facilitating an enabling and stimulating physical and socio-emotional environment in these foundational stages of lifelong learning.

Parents play an equally important role in their children’s early childhood development, as teachers. Young children spend the majority part of their time at their homes,where they receive numerous opportunities for physical, cognitive, socio-emotional, language and creative development. Therefore, it is necessary for parents to be consciously aware of their child’s needs for appropriate growth and learning, and cater to them accordingly.

With this in mind, the Bal Vikas Sewa Evam Pushtahaar Vibhaag, Uttar Pradesh (ICDS) has developed this application for parents of 3-6 years old children. The APP contains a 32 weeks calendar with AV resources of developmentally and age-appropriate 384 activities, 32 stories, and 32 rhymes. The selected activities are simple, yet helpful in supporting children’s learning and development at home with materials that are easily available in a regular household. Pre-school teachers and Anganwadi Workers can also use the APP to access the resources provided and can apply the same in their schools or Anganwadi Centers.

With the help of this application, parents can be an active contributor in their children’s learning. The 32 weeks calendar has been divided into 8 themes based on the physical, social and natural environment around children and each week consists of 12 activities, 1 rhyme and 1 story. The distribution of the activities over the 32 weeks, ensures gradual and systematic progression in children’s learning, which will help developtheir reading, writing and numeracy skills, preparing them for formal education in schools.