Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/289938 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-01380
Publisher: 
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Washington, DC
Abstract: 
Play during early childhood is key to stimulating children's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. However, research on play-based learning is largely limited to high-income countries, and little is known about the use of hybrid interventions (which combine in-person and remote contact) to promote play-based learning at home. This study estimated the effects of a hybrid parental program to promote play-based learning in the state of Morelos, Mexico. We observed a positive impact on parental investment, with an increase of 0.13 standard deviations (SD) when compared to the control group. The treatment group performed the following play-based activities more often than the control group: reading books/looking at pictures (0.12 SD), singing songs (0.11 SD), and playing with toys (0.17 SD), all of which incentivize learning and the development of emotional and cognitive skills in children. The study also found a significant effect of 0.19 SD on the Developmental Milestones Checklist for children of caregivers with the lowest level of parental investment at the baseline. Our findings support the importance of parental training for increased quality and extent of caregiver investments in play activities, especially among children in households with the lowest levels of caregiver investment at the baseline.
Subjects: 
Play-based learning
Early childhood development
Parental engagement
Hybrid education,Low- and middle-income countries
COVID-19
randomized controlled trial
JEL: 
C93
I20
I24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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