Sentry Page Protection

Please Wait...

Unit 5 Student Login Hi, (First Name) | Log Out

Unit 5 Student Login

Welcome, (First Name)!

Enter Member Area

(Message automatically replaces this text)

OK

My Profile Log Out

(Unit 5) Topic 2: Planning Developmentally Appropriate Activities for Children

2 Clock Hours of Early Childhood Education

Developmentally Appropriate Practice

​Topic 2 Page 2

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (known as DAP) means you use knowledge about child development to create a program that is suitable for the age and stage of development of your group of children. At the same time, your program considers the needs of the individual child.

Strategies and approaches for applying developmentally appropriate practices

For DAP, the five key areas of early learning practices are often shown as a star, with each point representing one key area. All areas are interrelated and all are important in helping children learn and develop successfully. As an early childhood professional, making decisions about each aspect is a major responsibility.

Community of learners

• Provide nurturing, loving, responsive, joyous, and safe care.
• Build consistent and caring relationships among children, families, and co-workers.
• Value and respect all members of the community.
• Celebrate and embrace diversity, reflecting children’s cultures in the classroom and activities.
• Develop open positive collaborations with families and colleagues to support children’s learning and development.
• Focus on building self-confidence, self-regulation, and problem-solving skills.

Assessment

• Assess what is appropriate for children developmentally, individually, and culturally.
• Use assessment tools that allow you to assess children in an authentic, ongoing, and intentional manner.
• Develop a system for collecting and compiling assessment information.
• Use results for planning, decision-making, communicating with families and other colleagues, and to identify children who may need additional learning support.
• Gather information from multiple sources, including families, children, and other teachers.

Teaching

• Offer both child initiated and teacher-directed learning experiences.
• Be responsive to children’s ideas by offering materials, documentation (samples of their work, photographs, etc), and thoughtful conversation that builds on their ideas, skills, and knowledge.
• Plan for hands on experiences where children learn by doing.
• Plan enough time for children to explore and fully engage (as well as revisit) their interests.
• Build children’s learning by adding activities that challenge children and expand on what they can do.

Families

• Welcome all families into the program and invite them to participate in a variety of ways.
• Work in partnership with families.
• Communicate regularly with families in an open, positive, two-way manner.
• Respect and acknowledge family goals and choices for their child.
• Involve families in planning for their children.
• Be responsive to family concerns.
• Be familiar with community programs and support families by referring them to additional services as needed. 

Curriculum

• Identify and define core learning goals for individual children and the program.
• Develop a curriculum framework based on child development, individual learning, and cultures of the children in your group and that reflects learning goals.
• Use the framework for planning activities, experiences, and routines.
• Present rich content, focused work/center areas, and both indoor and outdoor environments that have meaningful connections to children’s interests, curiosities, and development.
• Allow for flexibility in programming.

In this topic, we will discuss developmentally appropriate program planning, including:

1. ​What is Curriculum?
2. Learning Styles
3. ​Temperament
4. ​Treating all Children Respectfully and Individually
5. Intentional Teaching​

• News You Can Use: Developmentally Appropriate Practice
  Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center Infant and Toddler Resources
• Position Statement: Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8
  National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
• Developmentally Appropriate Practices: Key Messages of the Position Statement
  National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
• Ages and Stages, American Academy of Pediatrics

(Unit 5) Topic 2: Planning Developmentally Appropriate Activities for Children * Navigation Menu