Planning curriculum to meet children s needs requires the outlook of a scientist. Just as scientists uncover and discover the workings of things, teachers understand and make sense of how and in what way children are building their knowledge and skills. Teachers need only engage this natural curiosity to design effective infant curriculum. By observing and listening to children, we as teachers see and hear what it is that children are curious about and ready to master.
Observation is our key for unlocking children s own guide to developing curriculum.
Once we know the areas infants are ready to explore, we can provide encounters to challenge their emerging skills and ideas. Children learn best when they have connected experiences, which allow them to build a framework of understanding. This requires time for infants to fiddle around with materials, to experiment with them, to leave them and return to them later. Learning happens best when an engaging series of experiences allows children to wrap their minds around something to experience and investigate it deeply, broadly, and from new perspectives. Watch them at play.