Principles
The research identifies five principles of healthy child development that are essential for quality programs: a caring adult, opportunity to play, make friends, master skills and participate. These principles support quality experiences for children – the kind of experiences HIGH FIVE® helps to deliver.
Five Principles of Healthy Child Development
A Caring Adult
If there was one attribute that stood out in the literature related to quality programs for children, it was the existence of a caring adult providing supportive relationships. The following quote succinctly states the case: “Program quality boils down to effective interactions between staff and youth and the environment the staff creates. If those interactions are lacking (e.g., adults are not interacting with youth) or are of poor quality (e.g., the adults belittle or yell at youth), no program, research-based or not, can be effective. In fact, the program could be detrimental.”
Friends
Friends help introduce children to the bigger world beyond their family, share in humour, test loyalty, form their first audience and offer support and criticism. Within the supportive/caring relationships characteristic of effective programs, positive peer interactions was the second most frequently cited attribute. Participation
According to this principle, children need to make choices, have a voice and do things by and for themselves. The literature confirms that quality programs possess this orientation.
Play
Play stresses fun, creativity and cooperation. Play allows children to shape their environment, use their imaginations and enjoy the activities they are involved in. A number of articles reinforced the fact that opportunities to play are particularly important for healthy childhood development, “promoting the acquisition of motor skills, social skills and creativity, and the development of cognitive functions.”
Mastery
Mastery means providing children with activities and tasks that make them feel they are special, important and succeeding. Researchers investigating human learning, “point to the importance of providing learners with rich content-based experiences, led by teachers or coaches who encourage mastery and use both structured and unstructured instructional strategies to promote learning.”