COURSES

Daily Schedule

• Daily schedule
• Balance with activities considering the child's total experience
• Both written and pictorial
• What happens before, during, and after the activities
• Outdoor play when weather permits
• Both quiet and active play daily
• Balance of large and small muscle activities daily
• More than one option for grouping, such as individual, small group, or large group *infants and toddlers are not expected to participate in a large group
• Balance of child initiated and adult initiated activities * time spent in large-group, teacher initiated activity is limited

Materials and Equipment

Materials reflect the lives of the children and families served including...

• Books
• Dolls
• Toys
• Dress-up props
• Photos
• Pictures
• Music

Materials reflect the diversity found in some society in general Equipment project diverse

• Racial attributes
• Gender attributes
• Age attributes

Developmentally appropriate materials and equipment for infants

• Simple, lightweight, open-ended, easily washable toys such as containers, balls, pop-beads, and nesting cups
• Rattles, squeak toys, action/reaction toys
• Cuddle toys
• Toys-to-mouth such as teethers, rings
• Pictures of real objects
• Crawling area with sturdy, stable furniture to pull self up

Developmentally Appropriate materials and equipment are available for toddlers

• Push and pull toys
• Sturdy picture books
• Toys for pretending, such as a phone and doll
• Large paper and crayons
• Sturdy furniture
• Sand and water toys
• Manipulatives
• Stacking toys
• Large wooden spools
• Beads/cubes
• Pounding bench
• Simple puzzles

Developmentally Appropriate materials and equipment is available for preschoolers

• Play equipment for climbing and balancing
• Puzzles and manipulatives
• Art materials such as finger and tempera paints, crayons, safe scissors, and paste
• Sand and water toys
• Unit blocks and accessories
• Picture books, audio recordings/tapes, musical instruments
• Dramatic play materials such as dolls, dress up clothes and props, child-size furniture, and puppets

Developmentally Appropriate materials and equipment are available for Pre-K

• Equipment for climbing and balancing
• Construction materials
• Picture books for early readers
• Musical instruments and recordings
• Writing and complex art projects
• Unit blocks and accessories, such as figures, signs, cars, trees
• Complex puzzles and manipulative toys for counting and sorting
• Appropriate computer software
• Dramatic play materials and props
• Board and card games

Developmentally appropriate materials are available for school age children

• Materials for organized games
• Woodworking material, unit blocks and accessories
• Musical instruments
• Computer software
• Board and card games
• Jigsaw puzzles
• Materials for hobby and art projects
• Science project materials
• Dramatic play materials
• Cooking project materials
• Complex manipulatives (connecting or interlocking)

Use of Passive Media (TV)

• Limited to developmentally appropriate programming
• Programs are viewed by an adult first
• Another option for activity is always available
• No child is required to view a program
• Teachers discuss what is viewed with the children
• Passive media is only used in during special occasions

Developing Emotional Skills

Infants/Toddlers

• Hold and touch, make eye contact
• Talk and sing
• Initiate rolling and sitting
• Develop self-help skills
• Support toddlers pulling up self, walking, and climbing
• Listen and respond to children

Preschoolers

• Allow time for children to talk about what they see, do, and like
• Use children's name
• Display art work and photos
• Encourage children to draw pictures and tell stories about self, family, and culture
• Encourage children to control their bodies and self-help skills

Pre Kindergarten

• Variety of ways to group children
• Allow collaboration and cooperation
• Coach children to problem solve
• Allow children to set classroom rules
• Support the beginning of friendships

School Age

• Have planned and spontaneous activities in team sports, group games, and clubs
• Allow time to sit and talk with individual children
• Focus on activities rather than outcome

Encourage Children to think, reason, question, and experiment

Infants and Toddlers

• Infants and toddlers are allowed to explore in safe area
• Light colorful objects for infants to reach at and grasp
• Play naming and hiding games, such as peek-a-boo
• Toys that initiate cause and effect
• Toddlers are allowed to dump and fill containers
• Avoid interruptions of children's activities

Preschool

• Plan sorting activities
• Discuss routines
• Extend children's thinking
• Observe natural events, such as seeds growing
• Use numbering and counting activities
• Take and talk about walks around program
• Encourage sand and water play

Pre Kindergarten

• Learn basic science and math skills through sand and water, constructing with blocks, using levers, pulleys, scales, and other simple machines
• Observe natural events, encourage to draw and discuss what they see
• Have children work with tools
• Use lots of drawings, writing, and speaking to tell stories

School age

• Provide activities such as cooking, money-making projects, gardening, science experiments, etc
• Provide time to complete homework

Encourage Language and Literacy

Infants and Toddlers

• One-to-one and face-to-face interactions
• Look at simple books and pictures
• Talk in a pleasant, calm voice
• Verbally label objects and events
• Respond to sounds infants make, imitate often
• Respond to toddlers attempt at language in supportive ways

Pre School

• Read books and poems, tell stories about experiences, talk about pictures
• Provide time for conversations
• Answer children's questions
• Add more information than what the child says
• Label things in the room with words
• Use flannel boards, puppets, songs, finger plays
• Encourage children's interest in writing

Pre Kindergarten

• Actively work to increase children's vocabulary
• Read books and poems, tell stories about experiences, talk about pictures
• Help children develop book-handling skills
• Help children develop a full range of strategies for reading
• Provide opportunities for children to write or draw about what is important to them
• Give children practice in composing and editing stories
• Continue oral language development

School Age

• Provide opportunities to read
• Share experiences with adults and friends
• Use audio-visual equipment
• Make own films an recordings

Enhance physical development and skills

Infants and Toddlers

• Allow children to learn to roll, sit, and walk at their own pace
• Encourage children to crawl
• Have equipment for children to pull up on
• Take infants outside when weather permits
• Provide objects for infants to reach and grasp
• Plan activities for non-mobile infants
• Provide simple puzzles, nesting toys, stacking toys, and pop beads for toddlers
• Provide objects for toddlers to carry

Pre School

• Provide time and space for jumping, running, balancing, climbing, and riding bikes
• Creative movement activities
• Fine-motor activities
• Art, modeling, and writing

Pre Kindergarten

• Group games
• Creative movement and recordings

School Age

• Physical excercise
• Group games and team sports
• Time for hobbies

Encourage and demonstrate sound health, safety, and nutrition

• Cook and serve a variety of foods
• Discuss good nutrition
• Develop safety awareness
• Encourage hand washing, brushing teeth, exercise, rest
• Talk about doctors and dentist
• Describe health routines as they are implemented
• Study topics on the human body nutrition, and life skills

Encourage an appreciation for the arts

• Use music and movement, sing to children, Dance
• Display artwork to look at
• Encourage scribbles with crayons
• Art activities with brushes, collage, sponges
• Process vs. product
• Multi-cultural
• Have children express themselves through art
• Take trips to galleries

Respect cultural diversity

• Bring home culture into the classroom
• Provide books and music
• Initiate discussion, talk in a positive way
• Cook and serve foods
• Avoid stereotyping

Allow time for children to select their own activities

• Infants and toddlers have materials for free choice
• Several activities available at a time
• Teachers respect children's selection
• Teachers pick up on activities children select and show interest
• Pre K and School age kids help prepare materials

Teachers plan and conduct smooth transitions between activities

• Children are given advance notice
• Children are not always required to move as a group
• New activities are prepared and ready before the transition
• School age children help plan and participate in the change in activities
• School age children have time to adjust from public school to program
• Teachers are flexible enough to change planned activities as needed

Routine task are incorporated into the program

• Routines are used for a time of pleasure and learning
• Routines are handled in a relaxed manner
• Teachers work with families on routines

FAQ about DAP?

• Is it a curriculum?
• Is this for every child?
• Can this be for full day or half day programs?
• ...other?