DAP for young chilr

1. It’s OK to Play!
How to recognize
Developmentally Appropriate
Practice

2. What is DAP?
Developmentally appropriate practice is based on:
• Knowledge about how children develop and learn
• What should be learned and how it would best be
learned depending on developmental level
• Our understanding of the relationships between
early experience and subsequent development
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

3. Why use DAP?
• Areas of children's development
physical, social, emotional, and
cognitive are closely related.
Development in one area influences
and is influenced by development in
other areas.
http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

4. • Development and learning occur in
and are influenced by multiple
social and cultural contexts.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

5. • Children are active learners,
drawing on direct physical and
social experience as well as cul-
turally transmitted knowledge to
construct their own understandings
of the world around them.
http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

6. • Play is an important vehicle for
children's social, emotional, and
cognitive development, as well as a
reflection of their development.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

7. Where is DAP?
(Where should DAP be???)
• Anywhere!
• As parents it is your responsibility to
ensure your child is receiving DAP:
– In a center
– In a home setting
– In a classroom
– In a group setting (afterschool, field
trips, sports games, church, etc.)

8. Observing The Learning
Environment
 Well defined centers/areas
 Materials for centers/areas
Focus on literacy and fine motor skills
and many print-rich opportunities!
 Room Arrangement
 Traffic Patterns
 Aesthetic Appeal 

9. Centers/Areas
Large Group and Circle Time
C Music and Silly Sounds
S Science and Math
S Blocks/Trucks
S Housekeeping
S Art
S Remember. . . Literacy and fine motor
skills abound!

10. Literacy
It’s EVERYWHERE!
• Books
• Puppets
• Flannel Boards
• Daily Schedule
• Labels
• Names
• Fingerplays
• Music and Dance
• Rhymes

12. Print Rich Environment
• Model Correct Print
• Labels, Labels, Labels
• Name Recognition
• Daily Schedule Pocket Chart
• Meaningful Print
• Books available in centers
• Graphing, voting, writing
• “What noise does a turtle make?”

13. Fine Motor Development
• What - use of hand and finger
muscles to increase dexterity
• Why – to increase ability to perform
self help skills and later increase
writing skills
• How. . .

14. Fine Motor
• Puzzles
• Beads
• Snaps/Zippers/Buttons
• Legos
• Sensory:
Beans, rice,
Sand, shaving
Cream, mud!
•

15. Large Group
• Books
• Circle Time
• Discussions
• Class Rules
• Games
• Music/Dance
• Large Motor Activities
• Social Skills

16. Science and Math
• Sensory table/tub
• Experiments
• Bubbles
• Food color
• Shaving cream
• Simple Recipes
• Plants & Animals
• Small toys for
– Counting, sorting, classifying, measuring
• Calendar and Weather

17. Blocks/Trucks
• Unit Blocks
• Brick blocks
• Homemade blocks
(juice cartons, food
boxes, etc.)
• Large push trucks
• Small cars/trucks
• Road map rug
• People, animals, characters
• Materials to “make a scene”

18. Housekeeping
• Kitchen set
• Food/Dishes
• Variety of dolls
• Broom/Mop/Vacuum
• Dress up clothes/Shoes/Hats
• Change often to fit theme (Pizza
Parlor, Barber Shop, Camping…)

19. Music
• House hold items
• Pots, pans, spoons
• Bottle shakers
• Blank CDs
• Dance, clap, shake, sway, rock to
rhythm
• How does the music make you feel?
• Close your eyes…What do you see?

20. Silly Sounds
• Rhyme and Repetition
• Animal Sounds
• Nursery Rhymes and Finger Plays
• Let child finish the line
– “Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up
the _____.”

21. “Process” Art
• Tempera Paint
• Finger Paint
• Watercolors
• Drawing
• Easel
• Collage
• Stamps
• NOT “PROJECT ART”
• Limit “CRAFTS”

22. Softness
• Couches
• Cushions
• Pillows
• Rugs
• Curtains
• Textures

23. Aesthetic Appeal
What do you “C”?
• Centers
• Colorful
• Clean
• Clutter-free
• Cozy
• Child friendly