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Sutradhar believes that well designed play materials can positively impact the quality of the teaching and learning process.

In 1999-2000, Sutradhar took up a project to design and disseminate an early learning kit to 1000 state-run anganwadis that serve young, underprivileged children.

This project was taken up in collaboration with the Department of Women and Child Development, with the support of CRY-Child Rights and You, and 25 partner non-profit organisations.

The early years are critical to child development, and anganwadis suffer from lack of thoughtful, sturdy, well-designed and multipurpose learning materials.

Most anganwadis in rural areas spend their budget on chart paper, crayons and thermocole. Sutradhar’s early learning kit has 11 materials in a sturdy bag with an accompanying teacher’s manual to help promote all-round child development. It was developed within a limited budget and field-tested in 4 districts of Karnataka.

A Sutradhar staff member trained anganwadi workers before they used the kit, and visited them after 4 months to obtain their feedback. Subsequently, a few refinements were made. This is a good,  standardised starter kit for groups working with anganwadis on a large scale. It has been endorsed by NCERT and NIPCCD, the premier institutions involved in early learning. The companion manual is available in both Kannada and English.