Learning through Play

In one of Children for Health’s communities, two young boys turned playtime into a lesson that could save lives. Moments after learning about exclusive breastfeeding and the power of colostrum the first milk a baby receives they picked up ZuZu and ZaZa, the beloved Children for Health mascots, wrapped them in cloth like swaddled infants, and began to play.

What followed was pure imagination rooted in real understanding: two “mothers” deep in conversation outside their homes, one worried her baby wasn’t growing well, the other gently reminding her of the importance of breastfeeding and colostrum. In their own language, in their own words, these boys had absorbed a health lesson so completely that they could teach it back through play.

This is the heart of the Children for Health model. When children understand health, they don’t just remember it – they live it, share it and pass it on. A single lesson, given to one child, has the power to ripple through an entire household, an entire community.