Objectives
Establishment of farm crèche
a) Stimulation for optimal developmental outcomes of infants (birth –36 months)
b) Supplementary feeding program for young children.
c) Educating mothers regarding scientific childcare.
Development of educational material for mothers and care givers on
a) Health, Hygiene and infant nutrition
b) Conducive home environment for infants and young children
c) Toys and play material for stimulating optimum development in infants (birth to
36 months)
d) Understanding developmental milestones of infants (birth to 36 months) &
stimulatory environment
e) Antenatal and Prenatal care
f) Development of other educational materials like slides, folders & flash cards on
childcare.
Development of research tools/scales
a) Maternal knowledge regarding childcare and nutrition inventory
b) Maternal temperament inventory
c) Child temperament inventory
d) Home environment inventory
e) Socio economic status inventory.
Testing the effectiveness of developed package and impact of intervention
on developmental outcomes of infants through experimental research design.
Research Achievements
Establishment of a Farm Crèche: A Farm Crèche was established in village
Bundla, under AICRP research project, which catered to the children in the age group of
six to 36 months.
It provided supplementary feeding and various stimulatory activities including age-
appropriate play materials to the children.
Children at Farm Crèche playing with Toys-- Assessment of mental ability
Children were being given opportunity to play independently and have knowledge of
different concepts of number, animals, language, etc. through play-way method.
Different stimulatory activities for the development of motor, mental and cognitive skills
were also provided to the infants.
In addition to this quality care was provided to the infants in the crèche which served as
a seat for offering scientific knowledge to the mothers of infants coming to the crèche
through demonstrations, lectures and discussions.
Intervention was provided to the mothers of the infants coming to the crèche for
a period of two years. This was provided through various intervention materials which
included Slides, Flash cards and Folders on “Breast Feeding, Supplementary Feeding
and Weaning foods” and Educational packages on Nutrition and Child Care, Conducive
Home Environment, Stimulatory Toys and Play materials and Understanding
developmental milestones and Stimulatory Environment to infants and young children.
An experimental study was conducted to test the effectiveness of the developed
intervention package on infants and their mothers. The mothers and infants in the
experimental group were imparted intervention by providing them education about
aspects of child care and were subsequently tested for the effectiveness of the
intervention. The results indicated a heightened performance of the infants and
improvement in knowledge regarding child-care and nutrition and temperament of their
mothers in the experimental group. Infants of the experimental group showed better
sensitivity, adaptability, adjustability, less stranger anxiety and positive mood. Parents
of experimental group were educated and were stressed on the importance of right kind
of play materials and participation in child’s play, showing and taking interest in child
activities etc. As a result their home environment became stimulatory with provision of
different stimulatory activities for enhancing motor and mental development through
out the research phase. Significant differences were found between the experimental and
control groups on account of their temperament, home environment, mental and motor
development, weight and height, their feeding patterns and possession of stimulatory
toys.