11.5: Developmentally Appropriate and Play-Based Practice

High-quality early childhood curriculum should be grounded in developmentally appropriate practice. This means that curriculum decisions are based on what is known about child development, what is known about each individual child, and what is known about the child’s family, culture, language, and community. Developmentally appropriate curriculum supports children as active learners and recognizes that young children learn best through meaningful experiences, relationships, exploration, and play.

Play-based curriculum is one of the most important expressions of developmentally appropriate practice. However, play-based learning is sometimes misunderstood. It does not mean that teachers simply let children do whatever they want all day, nor does it mean that planning is unnecessary. In a strong play-based curriculum, teachers intentionally design environments, choose materials, observe children, ask questions, extend thinking, and connect play to developmental goals.

Active Learning and Exploration

Young children learn through direct experience. They need opportunities to touch, move, build, pretend, investigate, experiment, talk, listen, and repeat experiences over time. Curriculum should therefore include hands-on activities and open-ended materials rather than relying heavily on worksheets, passive listening, or teacher-directed instruction.

Active learning allows children to construct understanding through engagement with people and materials. For example, children may learn mathematical concepts by building towers, comparing quantities during snack, sorting natural materials, or measuring how far a toy car travels down a ramp. These experiences are more meaningful than isolated skill practice because they connect learning to children’s real actions and questions.

The Role of Play

Play supports development across multiple domains, including language, social-emotional development, problem-solving, physical development, creativity, and self-regulation. Through play, children practice communication, negotiate roles, test ideas, manage emotions, and make sense of the world around them. A play-based curriculum should provide time, materials, and space for different kinds of play, including dramatic play, block play, sensory play, outdoor play, constructive play, and cooperative play. These experiences should not be treated as separate from learning. In early childhood programs, play is one of the primary ways children learn.

Caution: Play-based does not mean unplanned

A common misconception is that play-based curriculum lacks structure. In reality, effective play-based learning requires intentional planning. Teachers must decide how to arrange the environment, which materials to offer, how to support children’s interactions, and when to join or extend play.

For example, if children are pretending to run a grocery store, the teacher might add paper, pencils, empty food containers, baskets, signs, or play money. The teacher might also introduce vocabulary, encourage children to write lists, support turn-taking, or ask questions that extend the scenario. The children are playing, but the teacher is still teaching.

The structure in play-based curriculum does not always look like direct instruction. It often appears through the environment, the materials, the teacher’s questions, and the way the teacher supports children’s thinking.

Balancing Child-Initiated and Teacher-Guided Learning

High-quality curriculum includes both child-initiated and teacher-guided learning. Child-initiated experiences allow children to make choices, pursue interests, and take ownership of their learning. Teacher-guided experiences allow adults to introduce new concepts, model skills, support language, and create intentional opportunities for growth. The balance between child-initiated and teacher-guided learning may shift depending on the age of the children, the curriculum goals, and the needs of the group. For example, a teacher may lead a small-group activity to introduce a new science tool, then make that tool available during center time so children can explore it independently. In another situation, a teacher may notice children struggling to solve conflicts during play and intentionally plan activities that support emotional vocabulary and problem-solving. The goal is not to choose between child choice and teacher guidance. The goal is to use both in ways that support meaningful learning.

Avoiding Worksheet-Heavy or Product-Focused Curriculum

Developmentally appropriate curriculum should avoid overreliance on worksheets, coloring pages, and product-focused crafts. These activities often limit children’s creativity and may emphasize compliance or fine motor control over deeper thinking. While an occasional paper-based activity may be appropriate for a specific purpose, it should not dominate the curriculum.

Product-focused art is another common concern. When every child’s project is expected to look the same, the activity may reflect adult control more than child creativity. Process-oriented experiences are usually more appropriate for young children because they allow children to explore materials, make choices, and express ideas in their own ways. Administrators should pay attention to whether classrooms show evidence of children’s thinking and creativity or whether displays mostly show identical adult-directed products.

Intentional Teaching in Play-Based Curriculum

Intentional teaching means teachers make thoughtful decisions about how to support children’s learning. In play-based curriculum, intentional teaching may involve observing children closely, adding materials, modeling language, asking open-ended questions, helping children solve problems, or introducing new ideas at the right moment. Intentional teaching does not require teachers to control every activity. Instead, it requires teachers to understand what children are doing and how to extend learning. A teacher who notices children repeatedly building unstable towers might introduce vocabulary such as balance, base, taller, shorter, steady, and collapse. The teacher might encourage children to compare structures or test different materials. The play remains child-centered, but the teacher’s intentional support deepens the learning.