However, don’t be confused between a source of inspiration and an actual curricular plan. I was working with a preschool director recently who told me that some of her staff use Pinterest as a means of developing their curriculum.  She said, for example,  that they find a picture of an art project and then recreate it in their classroom.  Well, I am all for sharing ideas and incorporating cool things into a program, however, taking a disconnected idea from a Pinterest Board because it is “cute” or “the kids will like it” is not how we develop meaningful curriculum.

This is in stark contrast to supporting children’s ideas by finding connected projects or activities that correspond to the interests of the children, the overall development of the group and the developmental appropriateness of the project or activity. If the children in your group are very excited about the newest children’s movie that is out (i.e., Frozen) and you want to further encourage this exploration via art and dress-ups, then by all means, look for inspiration on Pinterest. But use it as a starting point, a place to get going. You should still consider how this project or activity fits into your program, what learning might take place because of the children’s involvement, how you will know that the learning happened, and how you can further extend the play.  This is good curricular planning.

When I was teaching kindergarten, I was frequently questioning the scope and sequence of our curriculum.  I was never quite sure if we were teaching “enough” or “too much”  material.  I found that different children had different needs in terms of scope and sequence which made following a set curriculum difficult.  That can be exacerbated by mixed-age settings as the ages and stages of those children are vastly different.

For young children, we need to consider developmentally appropriate practice by considering this question: Is what we are attempting to teach children appropriate not only for their chronological age but for their developmental age as well?  We must also consider when and in what order we present new materials and new ideas.  We must think about the children in our specific group and what they are ready for,

Have you ever tried to teach something and right in the middle of it, you realize “Hey, these kids are simply not ready for this?”

This got me thinking about providing individualized care in a group setting.

Recently, I was visiting an “older infants” room in a center setting (6 mos.-1 year).  It was a lovely room with all of the appropriate bells and whistles I’ve come to expect in quality child care.  What surprised me was that the teachers fed the children simultaneously, changed them on the same schedule, and put them down for their naps all at the same time.  This is contrary to everything I’ve learned about caring for infants and toddlers “on demand.”

Nowhere is individualized care more important than in the infant and toddler setting.  Regardless of how the teachers managed to get all 6 babies on the same schedule, I can’t imagine that is best for all of them.  I am quite sure it is nice for the teachers.

The earliest mathematical concepts are reinforced for infants through a consistency of care.  Babies come to expect that when they are hungry they eat, and when they are tired they sleep.  When they are changed, there is a system in place that is consistent and follows a set order.  These set structures build trust between the infant and her  provider and ultimately create a sequence of events that is constant and predictable.

These relationships between people and events are logico-mathematical in nature and are paramount to children’s overall well-being.  For me NAEYC is really clear on this.  Developmentally Appropriate Practice asks that we consider the child in light of her/his family and culture.  Providing individual care for children under three should still be a priority, shouldn’t it?