The Basics Virginia™
The Basics™ — a public health messaging campaign developed by the Harvard Achievement Gap Initiative and Dr. Ronald Ferguson to improve learning outcomes for all families — focuses on five key caregiving behaviors that are important for cognitive and social-emotional development of children, birth to age five.
With these 5 principles in mind, parents and caregivers play and interact with children while laying the foundation for future growth and learning, giving every child a more equitable start in life.
For maximum impact in the community, VPM partners with organizations who incorporate The Basics™ initiative directly into their existing work.
Visit TheBasicsVirginia.org to learn more.
The Basics in Action
Over the course of one year, Gaby Benzel documented her family’s journey as they engaged with The Basics principles in their everyday activities. As parents, they discovered how these simple interactions helped build positive relationships within the family, maximizing early learning and utilizing skills crucial to the development of their young children’s brains.
The Basics Virginia™ Movement
In partnership with state and local community stakeholders, and the national Basics Learning Network, VPM has developed a multi-platform media campaign around school readiness using The Basics™ with our audiences. Why? Because many people are unaware of the importance of early brain development and its impact on lifelong learning. We need to dispel the common misconception that learning begins when a child enters school.
80% of brain development occurs in the first 3 years of life. The Basics™ are a strategy for whole communities to support vibrant learning and brain development for all children. Everyday interactions and experiences in life are educational learning opportunities.
The five Basics principles encourage caregivers to play and interact with the children in their lives, which helps to lay the foundation for growth and learning. Parents learn and understand that they are their child’s first and best teacher.
The Basics Virginia™ are shared on television, online, through social media and through community partner trainings and engagement activities.
The Basics Virginia™ Toolkits
VPM’s Early Childhood Care and Education program works with community partners to develop The Basics™ activity toolkits with a literacy focus. Each kit contains a book and support materials centered on the five fundamental behaviors in The Basics™ for families to engage with together.
Explore The Basics Principles in nature! Visit the Preschool Nature Trail created by VPM and Wildrock
