I'm loving a lot of these suggestions! I keep coming back to children's development and mother's contributions.

Here is what i envision:
- child is conceived and mother pregnant for 45 min (2X) during which time she works, but at a lower productivity, taking rests. Father interrupts work to check on mother, much like laundry or enjoying pond.
- mother goes to hospital and adept or master healer delivers. Trainee or no healer present leads to 10% infant mortality. Before hospital built, children are birthed at home by healer. Father is present for birth.
- Child spends first year of life on mother or fathers back in a carrier, and this is chosen at the birth and can't be changed (too complicated). The carrying parent gains parenting skills. The carrying parent cannot research (fumes), fish, or build due to dangers. They can harvest ground crops, make stews or heal. The non-carrying parent also interrupts work randomly to either "nurse" or "check on family."
- Early in the game, the child spends the second year also in the carrier, but later a nursery is built. The nursery is staffed by 10 to 14 year olds who gain parenting skills while looking after the babies. Having more teenage staff allows for more babies kept in the nursery. At this point both parents return to any type of work, but go to "check on family' periodically. Alternately, babies can be kept with the carrying parent for the second year, depending on the needs of the tribe.
- Outside the nursery is a fenced playground with another building on the other side: the school. 2 to 13 year old children play in the moderately sized outdoor playground and splash pond. When an esteemed elder is dropped on the school, a bell is rung and the 5 to 13 year olds go inside for lessons, achieving very limited amounts of skill points in random areas. The elder achieves parenting skills. The 2 to 4 year olds stay outside. Any child can still be manually taken outside the playground to find collectibles. They can enter the playground gate when finished, but cannot exit on their own.
- When a child turns 10 until they are 13, they can be taken from the playground yard and dropped on the school building. A prompt will ask whether to apprentice this child, much like the VV2 sewing hut. Saying yes will bring up a scroll screen of master villagers over 18, not pregnant or carrying a child carrier, and not already apprenticing a child. It will list their current mastered skill. Once chosen, the child will remain paired with the master until they turn 14. The child will end up "adept" in that skill at age 14, and the trainee will gain parenting skills, but lose some productivity. Apprenticing will be optional, and not always possible if there are not masters available to apprentice.
- Also at age 10, a child can be dropped on the nursery to work there until they are 14. For each 10 to 14 year old staff working for parenting points, 3 infants can be left in the nursery.
- At age 14, the child automatically ages out of either "lessons/playing," "apprenticing," or "nursery duties." The child can begin working.

Secondly, I love the animal husbandry idea. More into small animals than large grazing ones though. Chickens/guinea hens/whatever ground birds available.

- The chicken coop has a small building and a fenced area around it. Clicking on the building tells how much chicken feed is left. Growing chicken feed takes away garden space for human food, and requires a certain technology to grow. The farmer brings this feed to the coop.
- The chickens lay eggs every 5 minutes out in the chicken yard. After another 5 minutes the egg hatches to a chick. In 20 minutes the chick becomes another egg laying chicken. Very quickly there would be many chickens using up food resources, so there would be a limit, maybe 30 chickens.
- Also, if you wanted to stop at a certain number of chickens, a few 5 to 13 year old children could be placed in the chicken yard and remain fenced in until they were moved or turned 14. They would gain farming skills while collecting the eggs automatically and bringing them to a basket that the adult farmers collected and brought to the food area.

Lastly, I would divide food into:

1. proteins (eggs, fish, killed off chickens, hunted game)
2. grains (a few different types farmed, worth different amounts)
3. micronutrients (berries, coconuts, bananas, mushrooms, other farmed crops)

The villagers would have better health, fertility, and productivity by having food from all three categories, while different types gave different amounts. Clicking on the food hut would pop up a screen that showed:

Protein: 100
Grains: 1710
Micronutrients: 2500

A tribe lacking protein would have more sickness, but not starve. A tribe lacking grains would lose productivity without bulky foods to keep them feeling full ie "feeling hungry." A tribe lacking micronutrients would have lower fertility and more sickness.

Any food grown for animals would be grains, and reduce the amount of grains that could be grown for the tribe. Farmers could be set to fish, tend crops, or gather.

With a master in the party and the right technology, a hunting expedition could set out. They could return with volumes of honey (micronutrients), large game (protein), the seeds for a new grain (such as wheat, barley, rye, corn), or an alpaca to shear for the clothing hut and set free again. Hunting expeditions could be only once a year, cost much technology and food, and have risk of injury or villagers going missing (20% chance). A honey find would break even or gain minimally in food. A large game find would be a large protein gain. A seed find would break even, but would allow animal husbandry and greater populations. An alpaca find keeps the clothing hut going, and a risky expedition would be a complete loss. The chickens could initially be introduced by being caught on a hunting expedition.

No additional map programmed would be needed for expeditions, just enough people, a master farmer, and some level of exploration. The results could just pop-up like an event box.

That's about it for now......