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    Research

    What the research says, and what we won't claim.

    Every claim Yarnily makes about learning comes from a real framework or a real paper. The evidence is below. At the bottom is a list of things we will never claim.

    • The plan follows India's NCF-FS.

      • NCERT (2022). The National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage sets learning goals for ages 3 to 8. Yarnily's five levels, Nursery to Class 2, and its five weekly strands are mapped to these goals. (National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage)

    • Stories help children remember.

      • Bruner (1986). Narrative is one of two fundamental modes of human cognition; stories make abstract truths memorable in ways exposition cannot. (Actual Minds, Possible Worlds)
      • Mar & Oatley (2008). Fiction is a simulation of social experience; readers practice empathy and theory of mind as they read. (Perspectives on Psychological Science)
      • Green & Brock (2000). Narrative transportation predicts attitude change more strongly than direct persuasion. (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)

    • Seeing yourself in a story can help.

      • Symons & Johnson (1997). Meta-analysis: the self-reference effect produces reliable memory advantages. Information about oneself is remembered better than information about others. (Psychological Bulletin)
      • Research on the self-reference effect suggests children who see themselves as the main character pay more attention and connect more with the story's lesson. We treat this as suggestive, not proven.

    • Reading together matters.

      • Logan et al. (2019). Children read to daily from birth hear approximately 1.4 million more words by age 5 than children not read to. (Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics)
      • Mol & Bus (2011). Meta-analysis: shared reading frequency predicts vocabulary, reading comprehension, and later academic outcomes. (Psychological Bulletin)
      • Whitehurst (dialogic reading research). Back-and-forth conversation around a story outperforms passive listening for language outcomes. This is why every Yarnily week has a Talk step after the book.

    • Routines help.

      • Mindell et al. (2009, 2015). Consistent bedtime routines correlate with better sleep, behaviour, and cognitive outcomes. Reading is one of the strongest single components. (Sleep)

    • Feelings can be learned through stories.

      • CASEL framework + Durlak et al. (2011). Social-emotional learning programs produce an 11-percentile-point average academic gain. The Heart strand in each week draws on the CASEL 5. (Child Development)
      • Wellman Theory-of-Mind Scale. A well-tested sequence of how children come to understand what others think and feel. We check the Heart strand against it, so what we describe at each level is honest.

    • Following a child's questions keeps them interested.

      • Deci & Ryan: Self-Determination Theory. Autonomy-supportive learning environments produce more durable engagement than directive ones. This is why a parent can start the week from their own idea, or make a book for any question.
      • Hidi & Renninger (2006). Four-phase model of interest development; situational interest can deepen into individual interest with the right scaffolding. (Educational Psychologist)

    • Honest about screens.

      • American Academy of Pediatrics screen-time guidance. High-quality interactive content with co-viewing is the recommended pattern over passive solo screens. Yarnily is designed to be read together, and most of the week happens off screen.
      • Munzer et al. (2019). Print books elicit more parent-child interaction than tablets. We say this openly. On a paid plan, every Yarnily book can be printed, and the Talk and Do steps happen away from the screen. (Pediatrics)

    The measurement

    What we count, and how we count it.

    Every week is planned from India's NCF-FS, with established work on vocabulary and reading, the CASEL 5 for social-emotional learning, and long-standing frameworks for how children grow. You never have to read the jargon. We show plain things: words met, weeks done together, badges earned. We count what you did together; we never test or grade the child.

    What we won't say

    What Yarnily will never claim.

    The honest counterpart to the evidence above. These are claims we will not make in marketing, in app copy, in emails, or in conversation with parents, no matter how good they would sound.

    • "Raises IQ" or "boosts intelligence".
    • "Yarnily improves your child's empathy by X%".
    • "Replaces a parent" or "smarter than a tutor".
    • A single number for your child that pretends to measure how they are developing.
    • Normed percentiles without a real norming sample.
    • Long-term outcome claims from short-term studies.
    • "Learns a word" when we only know the word was encountered in a story.