Emergent curriculum is an early education approach where educators design projects unique to a child or group of children. Learn what makes it successful, and find out if it is right for your child. At Natural Choice Family Day Care, our educators support an emergent curriculum. Educators plan activities and projects based on the specific group of children they are working with, taking into account their skills, needs, and interests.
How an Emergent Curriculum Works
A successful emergent curriculum approach means that educators thoughtfully plan the environment, offering many visible choices, based on the children's skills and needs. Educators conduct observations and plan based on these observations of children. Practicing emergent curriculum also utilise reflective practice, taking time to reflect and act on their observations of children.
Project work is often another component of programs that successfully practice emergent curriculum. Projects allow children to study a topic in more depth over a period of days or weeks. Projects in an emergent curriculum environment often focus on answering children's questions such as "Where does water go when you water plants?" or "Why are things different colours?" or "What kinds of homes do animals have? And what about people's homes?" Attentive educators take note of children's questions (for example, while helping to water the flowers) and where appropriate, build project work to help answer those questions.
Emergent curriculum is a developmentally appropriate approach to planning for children's learning in early childhood settings. Through this approach, educators gain greater understanding of each child's individual needs, allowing for thoughtful and individualised programming.
At Natural Choice Family Day Care, the educators immerse themselves fully in the emergent curriculum and we make wonderful memories with the children.
