Solutions to every question in NCERT Human Ecology and Family Sciences, Part 1 (Class 12), Chapter 6: Early Childhood Care and Education. The chapter has three Activities inside the text and one “Review questions” box (7 questions) at the end. All are answered below in book order, followed by how to carry out the three Practicals.
1 Activity 1 (page 103)
Q. From your memory of last year’s course, list some of the things that you think a child should know how to do or be capable of performing before entering Class 1. For example, can a child walk, talk, read full sentences? (Teacher should discuss these and then add/delete from to the list.)
Answer: A sample list, based on the abilities this chapter describes:
| What a child should manage before Class 1 | Is it expected? |
|---|---|
| Walk and run, pick up things with precision, manage the body | Yes; these develop in the early years |
| Control bladder and bowel movements, use the toilet | Yes |
| Eat independently | Yes; preschool children often learn this among peers |
| Talk in the mother tongue, ask questions (“Why is this so?”) | Yes; vocabulary grows rapidly after about three years |
| Play with other children in small groups, stay calmly away from the caregiver for some time | Yes |
| Recognise colours, shapes, sizes and simple numbers through play | Partly; this is what preschool activities build |
| Read full sentences | No; this is not expected before formal school, and forcing formal learning makes the child anxious and insecure |
In class, the teacher discusses the list and adds or deletes items. The point to remember: young children learn through play, and their programme should be informal.
2 Activity 2 (page 107)
Q. From your childhood, recall and write down any story that you heard and that you enjoyed a lot. Also mention who used to tell you the story and what you liked about the story. Mention which character you liked the best in the story and why.
Answer (a sample; write your own memory):
- Story: “The Thirsty Crow”. A thirsty crow found a pot with very little water, dropped pebbles into it one by one until the water rose, drank and flew away.
- Who told it: my grandmother, at bedtime.
- What I liked: she changed her voice for the crow and acted out dropping each pebble, so I could picture it.
- Favourite character: the crow, because it did not give up and used its brain.
Link to the chapter: the teacher picks some stories to present so that students learn from each other, share collective memories, and understand other families, cultures and communities. Story-telling and voice modulation are among the arts skills an ECCE professional must have, and “blend of textual and cultural sources” is an NCF (2005) guiding principle.
3 Activity 3 (page 112)
Q. Name the different types of child care services available in your neighbourhood.
Answer: Write the services you actually see around you. The book’s list of commonly available services helps:
- Crèches (including a neighbour who runs a crèche in her home: an informal family care setting)
- Day care centres
- Nursery schools (some are Montessori schools)
- Anganwadis under ICDS
- Services run by NGOs
- Training institutes for teachers and caregivers
4 Review Questions (page 112)
Question 1
Q. What do you understand by the term early childhood care and education?
Answer:
- Early childhood is the phase of life from birth till 8 years of age, divided into birth to three years and 3-8 years.
- Early childhood care and education (ECCE) is an activity that benefits childhood in different circumstances, as well as families, by supporting parents and the community in developing and building the next generation.
- It covers care (safety, feeding, toilet habits, health, nutrition) and education (play-based, child-centred, informal learning before formal school).
- As per the NCF (2005) Position Paper, its basic objectives are holistic development of the child to realise the potential, preparation for school, and support services for women and children.
Question 2
Q. What are the different care arrangements young children may require?
Answer:
- Care within the family: in most cases children are brought up within the family for the first few years by the mother, father or another primary caregiver such as a grandmother or helper.
- Substitute care: when the mother works outside the home, a substitute caregiver (a family member or a hired person) looks after the child, at the child’s home, the caregiver’s home, an institution or a crèche. Traditionally another female of the household did this, living permanently (joint family) or temporarily with the family.
- Informal family care setting: a woman in the neighbourhood sets up a crèche in her home for business purposes.
- Crèche: an institutional setting designed for infants and young children in the absence of home care.
- Day care: care of children in the preschool years, including infants and preschoolers, in the absence of a primary caregiver at home. Crèche and day care are usually all-day programmes.
- Preschool / nursery school / anganwadi: for children around three years and above, a child-centred, informal programme before formal school.
Question 3
Q. What are some of the reasons why young children need a special informal programme before formal schooling?
Answer:
- Young children have different ways of understanding the world (Jean Piaget) and need a supportive environment to explore in their own ways.
- If a child is forced to sit in one place and learn like in a formal school meant for older children, the curiosity diminishes and the child feels anxious and insecure.
- The child centred approach and the play way method make learning enjoyable and are ideally suited for young children.
- Children learn very quickly among peers, for example to eat by themselves.
- Preschool enhances exposure to other adults, environments and materials and, more importantly, prepares the child for formal schooling.
- It complements a good home environment, and where the home is lacking it can be an important factor in the child’s growth and development.
- It is very beneficial for children in difficult circumstances or needing additional support for learning.
Question 4
Q. What is meant by a child-centred approach?
Answer:
- The book says: “The child centred approach and the play way method which makes learning enjoyable is ideally suited for young children.”
- The child is at the centre of the programme: it follows the child’s needs, capabilities and pace, and is informal.
- The child learns through play, exploration and experience, with a caring adult and a variety of people and play materials.
- The child is not overburdened or forced to learn like in a formal school, so curiosity stays alive.
- The NCF (2005) guiding principles reflect this: play as the basis for learning, recognition of the special features of children’s thinking, and developmentally appropriate practices.
Question 5
Q. What is a crèche, and what services does this centre provide?
Answer:
- Crèche is the name given to an institutional setting that is particularly designed for the care of infants and young children in the absence of home care.
- It is usually an all-day programme and is primarily seen as a substitute for the mother/primary caregiver.
- Services: the care of very young children, their safety, their feeding, toilet habits, language development, social and emotional needs and learning. For this, its teachers and helpers are especially trained.
Question 6
Q. List the skills an ECCE worker must have.
Answer:
- An interest in children and their development
- Knowledge about the needs and capabilities of young children
- Capacity and motivation for interacting with children
- Skills for creative and interesting activities with children in all areas of development
- Enthusiasm for activities like story-telling, exploration, nature and social interaction
- Willingness and interest in answering children’s queries
- Capacity for understanding individual differences
- Be energetic and prepared for physical activity for considerably long periods of time
Besides these, the book stresses administrative and management skills (record keeping, accounting, report-writing), arts skills (story-telling, dance, music, voice modulation) and being adaptive and flexible.
Question 7
Q. Describe how we can prepare for a career in ECCE.
Answer:
- Study: study children’s development and the basic principles of care.
- Qualifications: an undergraduate degree in a subject with child/human development and/or child psychology; to enter the field soon after school, a one year diploma or Open University courses; Nursery Teacher Training is another course.
- Personal qualities: a predisposition to be open and interactive with children; awareness of the community and culture so that activities fit the child’s cultural and regional environment.
- Administrative and management skills: record keeping, accounting and report-writing, for proper records and effective contact with parents.
- Arts skills: story-telling, dance, music, voice modulation and organising playful outdoor and indoor activities, which are mandatory when working with children.
- Flexibility: young children have a short attention span, so the teacher must quickly change lesson plans, strategies and techniques; a large repertoire of activities and skills must be prepared before entering the career.
- Higher studies (later): a post-graduate diploma or degree in early childhood education and a doctoral degree for research.
5 Practicals (pages 113-115)
Tasks: (1) visit to the playground or an outside open area; (2) collection of play material. Purpose: to plan and prepare materials for activities with young children, using locally available low-cost or no-cost material.
- Divide the class into groups of 5 students each and walk around the school playground or an open area.
- Collect clean, safe and suitable materials: rocks, stones, pebbles, flowers, leaves, sticks.
- Clean the material properly before using it with children.
- Each group prepares one activity using colour, texture, number, shape, type of material or size.
Sample activity: sort leaves of different sizes and shapes into two sets, paste them on two newspaper sheets and discuss the names of the plants and trees; or make a scenery of a home, school or forest using drawings and stuck material, linking to local craft or folk art; or let children act like birds, animals and insects around the foliage and discuss which animals eat leaves.
Theme: preparation and use of teaching aids, using indigenous and locally available material, to communicate socially relevant messages for children, adolescents and adults in the community. Task: make a puzzle for young children.
- Bring used cardboard boxes (gatta) or old notebook covers.
- Draw two identical pictures of an animal (fish/elephant) or a local food article (mango, banana).
- Paint the pictures in bright colours.
- Stick one picture on the inside of the box or notebook cover.
- Glue the other identical picture on the other cardboard.
- When it dries, cut it into four pieces.
- Arrange the pieces on the picture stuck on the box. The puzzle is ready.
- Puzzles can also be made from newspaper or magazine pictures; cut pictures make scrap books such as “my family”, “my school” or “my neighbourhood, village”.
Theme: preparation of play materials. With 4-6 year old children, involve them in making the material; use low cost material. Masks and puppets promote language and socio emotional development.
- Collect stiff paper, newspaper, pieces of cloth, thread, leaves and flowers (for colouring the paper).
- Draw a face the size of a 10-year-old child’s face, and an outline of a mask in the image of a sun, flower or animal.
- Draw a small face and join pieces of cloth as arms, legs and hair to make a puppet.
- Use the puppets and masks to tell a story or do a role-play.
- Analyse what children learn through the activity. (Sample answer, not in the book: new words and expression for language development; taking turns, sharing and expressing feelings for socio emotional development.)