Innovating Early Childhood Sexuality Education through Animated Learning Media: A Development and Validation Study

Introduction: The urgency of providing sexuality education during early childhood has been widely recognised; however, pedagogical approaches remain fragmented, culturally sensitive, and often neglected. Conventional teaching methods tend to rely on verbal explanations, which are limited in their ability to engage children and address issues of gender identity, body safety, and self-protection behaviours. This study responds to this gap by developing and validating an innovative animated learning medium designed for comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality education in early childhood.Method: Adopting a Research and Development (R&D) design using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) framework, this study included 60 kindergarten children aged 5–6 years and 12 teachers from Indonesia. Expert validations, teacher evaluations, classroom observations, and focus group discussions were conducted to assess the validity, practicality, and effectiveness of the medium.Results: The animated video received strong validation scores (80–96.47%), high practicality (81.44–92%), and excellent effectiveness (86.31–92.10%). Children showed measurable progress in recognising gender identity, understanding social roles, and applying protective behaviours in risky situations. Teachers highlighted the cultural relevance of the medium and its role in reducing instructional barriers when addressing sensitive topics.Conclusion: The study demonstrates that animated media can serve as a transformative pedagogical tool in early childhood sexuality education. By combining developmental relevance with digital innovation, the intervention contributes to global discourses on inclusive education, abuse prevention, and early promotion of gender equity. The findings underscore the potential of animation-based learning to strengthen both child protection and educational innovation internationally.