What Is a Developmentally Appropriate Infant Curriculum?
A developmentally appropriate infant curriculum is responsive to infants’ interests and learning as well as their linguistic and cultural contexts. Infants learn from routines and experiences, both planned and unplanned, that support their development and learning( Wittmer & Honing 2020; Masterson & Grady 2024). To plan learning environments and experiences, teachers carefully observe and document babies’ interests and learning. They use those observations, in addition to families’ contexts and goals, to inform their planning( Bergen et al. 2009; Wittmer & Honing 2020).
Educators recognize the potential for learning embedded in each activity, experience, and material. Infant teachers, for example, may observe that several infants are interested in the stickiness of their baby food. To respond to this interest, teachers may tape some contact paper sticky-side up to the floor or use a little water to attach suction cups to a tray for babies to play with. They can learn and use sticky in the languages the children speak, sing made-up songs, read, and talk about what sticks together during routines— such as diaper closures. These activities integrate multiple domains of development and connect to children’ s homes and communities( Wittmer & Honing 2020). Indeed, a developmentally appropriate infant curriculum is responsive, relationship-based, and supports all families and children, including multilingual learners and children with developmental delays and disabilities( Masterson & Grady 2024).
sleep based on their own rhythms and timetables. Rather than expecting babies to adapt to one schedule in a group( as Nicole and Denise first did in the above vignette), infant educators must adapt their plans to be responsive to individual babies. This creates a cycle of individualized schedules. To implement this curricular aspect, teachers identify and adapt infants’ routines, implement a key teacher system, engage infants during routines, and ground routines in relationship-based practices.
Identify and Adapt Infants’ Routines
Infant educators can use multiple sources of information to identify a baby’ s routines. These include the baby’ s family, the educator’ s own observations, and their colleagues’ observations. Teachers can ask families questions about their baby’ s preferences and family practices during phase-in, or the gradual transition process that occurs when a baby and family begin a program( Goldsmith & Theilheimer 2015); home visits( Block 2014; Minish & McCorkle 2020); and when families visit the program. Educators may find it helpful to use a form to document observations about routines for each baby( see“ Sample Routines Form” on page 32).
Individualized routines are at the heart of a high-quality infant curriculum. Routines are predictable activities infants engage in daily, such as eating, sleeping, diapering, handwashing, arriving, departing, handling transitions, and playing. Routines provide structure for the day in infant settings and should be personalized, based on children’ s unique preferences, interests, temperaments, family and community contexts and cultures, and needs. Babies benefit greatly from being diapered, fed, and put to
30 Young Children
Summer 2025