All are interwoven in a child's life. Those within the ECCD field hold firmly to a belief that early childhood experiences for children, at whatever age, should be planned around the child's developmental abilities. Support for this position comes from international literature on how children develop and learn. Too often the assumption is made that learning begins when children enter the formal school system. In fact, significant learning takes place before the child enters school.
Development has several inter-related dimensions.
These include physical, cognitive, social, spiritual and emotional development, each of which influence the other and all of which are developing simultaneously. Progress in one area affects progress in others. Likewise when something goes wrong in any one of those areas it impacts all the other areas. Developing a programme based on an understanding of holistic development means taking the whole child into consideration, providing attention to the child's health, nutrition, cognitive, and socio-emotional needs. Therefore interventions should provide integrated attention to the child, including attention to needs for protection, food, health care, affection, interaction and stimulation, security provided through consistency and predictability, and play allowing exploration.