Examples of Developmentally Appropriate Practice for Infants and Toddlers

Developmentally appropriate / In contrast
Infants:
There is sufficient continuity of care to ensure that every infant and parent can form a positive relationship with one or two primary caregivers / Infants are shifted from group to group or cared for by whichever adult is available at the moment.
The infant’s primary caregiver comes to know the child and family well, and so is able to respond to that child’s individual temperament, needs and cues and develop a mutually satisfying pattern of communication with the child and family. / Caregivers are not familiar with the preferences and cues of individual infants because they do not have the same children in their care consistently.
Caregivers spend most of the day holding or touching infants, in one-on-one interactions that are warm and caring. / Caregivers leave infants for long periods in cribs, playpens, or seats.
Caregivers learn and watch for each infant’s cues, so they are able to judge when the baby needs to eat, is uncomfortable, or would like to be held. / Caregivers give attention and care according to their own schedule or preferences rather than children’s.
Recognizing that infants communicate through crying and body movements, caregivers respond to cries or calls of distress in ways that are calm, tender, and respectful. / Caregivers treat a crying child as a nuisance. Crying is ignored or responded to erratically at the convenience of the adult.
Play areas are comfortable. Comfortable furniture for adults is available for caregivers/parents and infants to relax in together. / There is no area where an adult can sit comfortably with an infant.
Caregivers are attentive to infants during caregiving routines such as eating, sleeping, diapering, changing clothes. The caregiver explains what is happening and involves the infant in the routine. / Routines are accomplished quickly and mechanically, without involving the infant. Little or no warm interaction takes place during routines.
Toddlers:
Toddlers and their parents are greeted warmly by name by that child’s primary caregiver when they arrive. Caregivers help to create smooth transitions by being available to the toddler who needs help with separating from parents and assisting each toddler in settling into the group. / Caregivers receive children hurriedly and without individual attention. Toddlers are expected to begin the day with free play and little adult interaction.
Caregivers spend most of the day in one-on-one interactions with toddlers. The tone of the interactions is warm and caring; caregivers use pleasant, calm voices and simple language and nonverbal cues. / Caregivers leave some toddlers alone for long periods and give their energy and attention to other children, or caregivers focus their attention elsewhere altogether and don’t interact much with children.
Caregivers create an emotionally and physically inclusive classroom. They make sure that spatial organization, materials, and activities are planned such that all children can participate actively (e.g., a child with a physical disability eats at the table with other children). / Caregivers do not include children with special needs in all activities (e.g., a child who requires adaptive equipment or special procedures eats or plays apart from peers).
Caregivers recognize that toddlers constantly test limits and express opposition (“No!”) as part of developing a healthy sense of self as an individual. / Caregivers punish children for asserting themselves or for saying no.
Caregivers try to limit telling children “no” only to situations that relate to their immediate safety or emotional well-being. Adults give positively worded directions or choices (“Bang on the drum”), not just restrictions (“Don’t bang on the table”). / Caregivers are constantly telling toddlers “no” without giving an alternative. Or they become involved in power struggles over issues that do not relate to the child’s safety or well-being.
Caregivers respect toddlers’ solitary and parallel play. When a toy is a favorite with children, adults provide a number of them to allow several toddlers to play with the toy at once. / Caregivers do not understand the value of solitary and parallel play, they strive to get children to always play together and share. Popular toys are not provided in duplicate and are fought over constantly, while others toys are seldom used.
Caregivers adapt schedules and activities to meet individual children’s needs within the group setting. / Activities are dictated by rigid adherence to time schedules, or a lack of a time schedule makes the toddler’s day unpredictable.

Examples of Developmentally Appropriate Practices for 3-through 5-Year Olds

Developmentally appropriate / In contrast
Teachers are warm and caring, and responsive. They make it a priority to know every child and family well and build a relationship with each of them. / Staff know and pay attention to some children, typically those who stand out or present special challenges. Others get lost in the shuffle, and quiet children (including those with limited English) are likely to be given less attention.
Teachers create a classroom that reflects the diversity of the community and society and involves every child’s home culture and language. / Cultural, linguistic, and other differences among children are ignored. Caregivers do not try to learn some words of each language represented in the classroom.
Teachers allocate extended time periods in learning centers (at least 60 minutes) so that children are able to get deeply involved in an activity and sustain dramatic play, construction, and other activitiesat a complex level. / The time block allotted to play and other child-guided experiences is too brief (e.g., 15-20 minutes) for the activity to reach a complex level. Scheduled only at the beginning or end of the day, during arrival/pickup, some children miss it entirely.
Teachers use a number of formats, including large and small groups, choice time in interest areas, and routines. For any learning goal, teachers choose the format that seems best suited to that specific purpose. / Teachers overuse one or two learning formats and make little or no use of others. Groups tend to be didactic, with little use of children’s ideas.
Teachers recognize the importance of both child-guided and adult-guided learning experiences. Teachers find opportunities to enhance children’s thinking and learning across activities. / Teachers rarely plan adult-guided learning experiences. When children are engaged in play and interest areas, teachers assume a largely passive role.
Teachers encourage children’s efforts to communicate. They make it a priority to involve English language learners in meaningful interactions at whatever level children are able. Teachers allow children time to think about how they want to respond to a question or comment (wait time). / Teachers are so focused on the shortcomings of preschoolers’ language skills that they neglect or miss the message children are attempting to communicate. Teachers insist on children’s speaking only in English or only with proper grammar, correcting them every time they diverge from standard English usage.
Teachers set clear limits regarding unacceptable behaviors and enforce these limits with explanations in a climate of mutual respect and caring. Teachers involve children in developing rules of group behavior and responsibility. / Teachers do not set clear limits and do not hold children accountable to standards of acceptable behavior. Teachers use guidance strategies that control children rather than promote their self-regulation, conflict resolution skills, and social problem solving.
The curriculum addresses key goals in all areas of development (physical, social, emotional, cognitive) and in the domains of physical education and health, language and literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, and creative arts. / Curriculum goals are narrowly focused on a few learning domains (e.g., literacy and math or social and emotional development) without recognition that all areas of a child’s development and learning are interrelated and important.
In planning and implementing learning experiences, teachers draw on their knowledge of the content, awareness of what is likely to interest children of that age, and understanding of the cultural and social contexts of children’s lives. / Teachers rigidly follow a prescribed curriculum plan without attention to individual children’s interests and needs or the specific and changing context (e.g., studying snow in January regardless of local weather conditions).
Teachers assess each child’s progress toward the program’s stated curricular goals, and they make changes to their teaching practice as necessary to improve effectiveness for the group and for individual children. / Teachers do not regularly make use of assessment information to inform curriculum decisions.
Children spend little time sitting. They have plenty of opportunities to use large muscles both in their play and in planned movement activities. / Children’s opportunities for gross motoractivities is either very limited (15- 30 minutes) or irregular (e.g., only when the weather is very nice and children are taken outside).
Teachers introduce engaging oral language experiences (e.g., songs, poems, books, word games) that include rhyming and alliteration, which feature sound patterns and give preschoolers a foundation of phonological awareness. / Teachers give little or no attention to promoting children’s phonological awareness, of they spend too much time on structured phonological awareness activities, continuing even after losing children’s interest.
The curriculum includes major content areas of mathematics and emphasizes those most important for preschoolers (number and operations, geometry/spatial relationships, and measurement) / Teachers focus only on teaching children to count. Teachers provide only low-level, repetitive experiences, such as counting the days on the calendar or identifying a few two-dimensional shapes.

Examples of Developmentally Appropriate Practices for 6-through 8-Year Olds

Developmentally appropriate / In contrast
Teachers are warm, caring, and responsive. They help children learn how to establish positive, constructive relationships with others. They support children’s forming of friendships and provide opportunities for them to play and work together. / With heavy emphasis on structure instruction in academic areas, particularly literacy and math, teachers give little or no attention to social-emotional domains.
Teachers arrange tables or flexible groupings of desks to enable children to work alone or in small groups. / Children sit in desks throughout the day and year, which is not conducive to small-group projects and other positive interactions with peers.
Teachers organize the daily schedule to allow for alternating periods of physical activity and quiet time. They allocate ample time for children to become deeply engaged in investigating problems or creating products (e.g., writing, constructing models). / The organization of the schedule is rigid and arbitrary, with discrete and often insufficient periods of time devoted to each subject area. Children are required to sit still for long periods of time and are reprimanded when they cannot do so.
Teachers and children together select and develop sustained, in-depth project work to be carried out by small groups who report back to the larger group. Teachers consider ways to pursue vital curriculum goals through these activities, which typically grow out of or expand on children’s interests. / Teachers offer little opportunity for collaborative work with peers, limiting social interaction in the classroom. Projects are not used as a means of engaging children in meaningful work toward integration of curriculum goals and objectives. Rather, projects are seen as “filler” for occupying or entertaining children.
Teachers integrate ideas and content from multiple domains and disciplines through themes, projects, creative opportunities, and other learning experiences so that children are able to develop an understanding of concepts and make connections across areas. / Children’s learning is always seen as occurring in separate content areas, and content is never integrated. Teachers fail to connect curriculum topics in ways that are meaningful to children. As a result, learning is often fragmented, and children are less likely to generalize ideas and apply them across content areas.
Teachers plan curriculum that is responsive and respectful of the specific contexts of children/s experiences. Culturally diverse and nonsexist activities and materials are provided to help children develop positive self-identity, relate new concepts to their own life experiences, and learn to respect differences and similarities. / Children’s cultural and linguistic backgrounds and other individual differences are ignored or treated as deficits to be overcome. Multicultural curriculum reflects a “tourist approach” in which the artifacts, food, or other aspects of different cultures are presented without meaningful connections to the children’s own experiences.
Teachers regularly assess each child’s progress toward the school’s stated curricular goals using both formal and informal assessment measures. Teachers monitor student learning and use assessment results to determine whether and how to change their teaching practices (environment, schedule, methods, etc.) to improve effectiveness for the class and for individual children. / Teachers do not regularly make use of assessment information, whether of children’s learning or self-assessment of teaching practices, to inform their curriculum decisions.
Children do not spend extended time sitting. They have plenty of opportunities to use large muscles both during recess and in planned movement activities. Children play outside every day and have specialized instruction in physical education on a regular basis. / Children have little opportunity for gross motor activity, and there is no regularly scheduled time for specialized instruction in physical education. Recess time is limited, or there are no opportunities for gross motor activities when the weather is poor.
Teachers value and teach phonics systematically as part of a complete reading and language arts program. Teachers encourage children to write and spell notes, e-mails, journals, and messages using what they know about sounds and letters. If a phonics program with a fixed sequence of lessons is in use in the school, teachers have the flexibility to adapt it to individual student needs. / Phonics is emphasized to the exclusion of engaging children with writing, literature, and other important aspects of a balanced reading program. Highly prescriptive plans for phonics instruction are used. Teachers cannot make adaptations based on what children know.
Teachers motivate children to learn math by connecting content to real-life, meaningful problems and situations. Teachers make sure that children consolidate their understanding of a concept before moving ahead. / Teachers stick strictly to the mathematics textbook without making meaningful connections for children. Teachers move along in the curriculum, even though children do not understand what has been covered.

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: NAEYC.