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Bringing Project-Based Learning to Preschool

Young children’s natural curiosity lends itself well to PBL—and with the right supports, these projects can be extremely effective.

Project-based learning (PBL) provides an interesting challenge for preschool teachers because it extends beyond early-childhood education mainstays such as teacher-directed themed crafts and short daily lessons.

PBL, which focuses on children learning through investigating a topic or answering a question, is an involved process that could last for as long as the children show interest. Facilitating PBL is easier when teachers pick something to explore based on the children’s interests and implement their ideas in the project. When children are engaged in the process, they naturally develop skills they can apply later in life.

Young Filmmakers

While teaching preschool in Seattle, my co-teacher and I observed some children playing cats and dogs in the drama area. We sat with that small group of children and talked about their play. The children expressed that they wanted to make cat and dog masks.

To honor their request, we propped up real pictures of cats and dogs and gave the children a variety of materials. While we filmed the children with their masks, they asked to make a movie! At first, I didn’t know how to make that happen, which led to the question, “How do we make a movie?”

During free choice, we pulled the small group of children for 15 minutes a day and asked them for ideas. They made the script and chose the film location outside. They even picked the title, A Dog’s Story: A Dog’s Life. The sessions grew longer as the children worked on their costumes and did rehearsals.

After two weeks of prepping, filming day finally came. We put a camera on a tripod, and the children took turns filming. They acted out their scenes and said their lines, which we read aloud and they repeated. I put together the final scenes with their choice of music. The children made movie premier posters and wrote invitations for families. They picked the snacks and set up the viewing area.

From an adult’s viewpoint, it was quite a bizarre movie with an odd plot of masked children jumping out of bushes and saying funny things. The ending was everyone on all fours meowing and barking. However, the children were so proud when their families came and watched the movie. Our final step was to create a learning story showing how we touched on all learning domains (math, literacy, language, social and emotional, drama, etc.).

4 Keys to Effective PBL in Preschool

1. Teachers create the opportunities. One way to start setting up PBL is to create a classroom culture of innovation. A teacher’s viewpoint on children’s capabilities is important. The children are inventors, architects, actors, artists, scientists, or engineers. They are capable of doing amazing things with the right space, materials, tools, and time, which is why creating indoor and outdoor spaces with a variety of open materials is so crucial.

2. Observe the children to find your topic or question. Once the environment is established, a teacher needs to intentionally watch and listen. This can be during large group, free choice, and outside time. It’s capturing an experience, seeing recurring play, or noticing a comment. How can we make our hot wheels go faster? How do birds make nests? How do you make a rocket ship?

3. Teachers are the project managers. Once a teacher picks a question or topic, they need to see themselves as a facilitator and organizer of the children’s plans. Young children have minimal experience and limited access to resources, materials, and information. They’re still learning how to get along with others. Teachers will need to model the process and maybe even take on some of the work that’s outside of preschool students’ abilities, such as conducting online research and using tools like glue guns.

4. Children generate the ideas. To start the project, the teachers can have an open discussion on the topic and write down all the children’s responses. What do we know? What do we want to know? How will we learn it? What steps do we need to take? What materials do we need? If the children are stumped, it’s OK to make suggestions for them to consider. Posting the children’s ideas shows them that their thoughts and concepts have value. The teacher’s next job is to make the children’s plans come to life—no matter how it may look at the end!

We tend to think PBL is better suited for older children, but preschool-age children are very capable. They just need opportunity. Children are eager to be a part of something big by creating things and solving problems. As a teacher models project planning, they show children how to work as a team, create a plan, and execute collaborative ideas. The focus should be on the process rather than the final product. Our dog movie may not be Academy Award worthy, but the skills and confidence gained by the children were the true gift. It will always be one of my favorite (and most hilarious) moments in teaching.

Activities to Inspire Your Lesson Plans

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• Early childhood education

Every child deserves access to quality early childhood education.

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Quality pre-primary education is the foundation of a child’s journey: every stage of education that follows relies on its success. Yet, despite the proven and lifelong benefits, more than 175 million children – nearly half of all pre-primary-age children globally – are not enrolled in pre-primary education.

Nearly half of all pre-primary-age children around the world are not enrolled in preschool.

In low-income countries, the picture is bleaker, with only 1 in 5 young children enrolled. Children from poor families are the least likely to attend early childhood education programmes. For children who do have access, poorly trained educators, overcrowded and unstimulating environments, and unsuitable curricula diminish the quality of their experiences.

Failure to provide quality early childhood education limits children’s futures by denying them opportunities to reach their full potential. It also limits the futures of countries, robbing them of the human capital needed to reduce inequalities and promote peaceful, prosperous societies.

Why should universal access to pre-primary education be a global priority?

Children enrolled in at least one year of pre-primary education are more likely to develop the critical skills they need to succeed in school and less likely to repeat grades or drop out. As adults, they contribute to peaceful societies and prosperous economies. Evidence of the ways in which pre-primary education advances development exists around the world.

Yet, global disparities in enrolment persist. More than half of low- and lower-middle-income countries are not on track to ensure at least one year of quality pre-primary education for every child by 2030, as set out by the Sustainable Development Goals .

What should governments do to ensure pre-primary education for all?

1. scale up investment.

Pre-primary education provides the highest return on investment of all education sub-sectors. Yet, it receives the smallest share of government expenditure compared to primary, secondary and tertiary education. 

2. Progressively grow the pre-primary system, while improving quality

Efforts to scale up access to pre-primary education should not come at the expense of quality. Quality is the sum of many parts, including teachers, families, communities, resources, and curricula.

Without adequate safeguards for quality, expansion efforts can intensify education inequities. It is only by investing in quality as education systems grow – not after – that governments can expand access and maintain quality.

9.3 million new teachers are needed to achieve universal pre-primary education

Only 50% of pre-primary teachers in low-income countries are trained, only 5% of pre-primary teachers globally work in low-income countries, 3. ensure vulnerable populations are not the last to benefit.

Access to early childhood education has been slow and inequitable, both across and within countries. Worldwide, vulnerable children are disproportionately excluded from quality pre-primary education – even though it can have the greatest impact on them.

To ensure no child is left behind, Governments should adopt policies that commit to universal pre-primary education and prioritize the poorest and hardest-to-reach children at the start of the road to universality, not the end.

*Early childhood education 

The richest children are 7 times more likely to attend ECE* programmes than the poorest

Children of mothers with secondary education are 5 times more likely to attend ECE* programmes

Children in urban areas are 1.5 times more likely to attend ECE* programmes than those in rural areas

Equitable attendance in ECE* programmes exists between girls and boys

What does UNICEF call for to achieve universal pre-primary education?

What does unicef do to advance pre-primary education.

UNICEF works to give every child a fair start in education. We support pre-primary education in 129 countries around the globe by:

• Building political commitment to quality pre-primary education through evidence generation, advocacy and communication
• Strengthening policies and advocating for increased public financing for pre-primary education
• Bolstering national capacity to plan and implement quality pre-primary education at scale
• Enhancing the quality of pre-primary programmes by supporting the development of quality standards, curricular frameworks, teacher training packages and more
• Collecting data and generating evidence for innovative approaches that deliver quality pre-primary education for vulnerable children
• Delivering conflict-sensitive early childhood education and psychosocial support to young children and their families in humanitarian situations

More from UNICEF

Early childhood education for all.

It is time for a world where all children enter school equipped with the skills they need to succeed.

175 million children are not enrolled in pre-primary education – UNICEF

Early childhood education has a new MOOC

A new Massive Open Online Course sets out to give all children the best start in education

5 fun ideas for learning through play

Eat, play, love: Playful ways to help build your child’s brain

Better Early Learning and Development at Scale

Build to last: a framework in support of universal quality pre-primary education, blogs on the pilot countries’ belds experiences:  ghana ,  lesotho ,  the kyrgyz republic,   sao tome and principe.

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50 Fun SEL Activities for Preschool and Kindergarten

Social-emotional activities have never been more important for our little ones.

When our little ones head off for school, they take their first steps in a lifelong journey of learning. Not only will they begin to build foundational skills that will pave the way for academic success, but they’ll also learn social-emotional skills like kindness, sharing, empathy, and many more that will contribute to their overall success in life. Some research suggests that social-emotional activities might be the most important work children can do in their early years. In fact, one study found that social-emotional wellness in kindergarten correlated with success up until age 25 . Here are some of our favorite social-emotional activities to use with your preschool and kindergarten students.

Teach students to identify their emotions

Identifying and labeling feelings (your own and others’) is a valuable life skill that takes lots of practice. These social-emotional activities are not only fun and engaging for little ones, they spark essential conversations that lead to deeper understanding.

1. Read, read, read!

There are TONS of children’s books featuring interesting main characters and story lines that teach social-emotional skills. Reading about characters they can relate to, in situations they can relate to, helps young children learn valuable lessons. Here are two book lists to get you started: Picture Books To Teach Students About Kindness and Children’s Books for Teaching Social Skills.

Different emotions evoke different feelings in our bodies. Teach your students this song to help them learn to identify what is really going on. Also, find role-play scenarios and reflection questions.

3. Practice with emotions play-dough mats

Learning to read others’ emotions is a valuable SEL tool. Children can explore and identify nuances of facial features that are paired with emotions by using play dough to draw faces on these free emotions play-dough mats from The OT Toolbox.

4. Play a monster-emotions match game

Download the free game cards here . This fun and engaging game helps kids learn how to identify emotions in other people. The game begins as students walk around the room making the feeling face that matches their card. As they walk, they look for another student who seems to be demonstrating the same feeling. Once everyone thinks they have found their matching feeling friend, let them check their cards to see if they are right. Play a few rounds to give kids a chance to try out different feelings.

5. Make emotion masks

These masks are a great tool for talking about feelings. And all you need is paper plates (cut in half), craft sticks, tape, and markers. The activity will focus on four emotions: happy, mad, sad, and silly. For each emotion (and each mask), make a face and then ask the class to identify the emotion it represents. Once they correctly identify the emotion, have them use the marker to draw that face on one of the plates. You can use these masks during read-alouds (hold up the mask that shows how the main character is feeling) or during class conversations to reinforce their understanding of what different feelings look like.

6. Start each day with a check-in

This chart is a fun one to help students communicate how they’re feeling. Position it next to your classroom door, and have students point to the emoji that most closely matches how they’re feeling as they enter. Social-emotional activities like this one help students get in the habit of monitoring their emotions and give you valuable information about your students’ moods.

7. Draw helping hands

Encouraging students to think about others can make them realize how much control they have over the feelings of others. Have students trace or draw their own hands and reflect or write what their helpful hands can do for others.

8. Do an emotions sort

Linking Zones of Regulation activities to fun experiences helps kids make connections. For example, this simple Emotions Sorting Game inspired by Disney-Pixar’s  Inside Out  helps kids learn and explore emotions. The game is a printable download available from  Mom Endeavors .

9. Play emotions Jenga

Attach a collection of emotion words onto Jenga blocks—for instance, happy, sad, angry, frustrated, etc. You can either write on the blocks with a Sharpie or try these pretty labels from Collective Feelings. One at a time, pull one of the emotion blocks out of the stack. Ask for a volunteer to either tell you the definition of that feeling or share a story about a time they felt that emotion. Talking about emotions in a group, and hearing others’ stories, helps kids make lasting connections.

10. Make an emotion spinner

If you’re looking for engaging social-emotional activities to teach kids more about identifying their emotions, try these emotion spinners. All you need to make them are paper plates, brads, markers (or paint or crayons or colored pencils), and a large circle punch if you have one. For full directions on how to make and use emotion spinners, check out this blog from Meaningful Mama .

11. Play a round of emotions charades

Prepare a set of cards with emotion words and pictures of what those emotion looks like. Then play a round of emotions charades, which helps preschoolers read nonverbal cues, identify and regulate emotions, and learn how to express emotions in a healthy way, all of which are essential elements of emotional intelligence.

12. Make affirmation bracelets

Set out cups of colored beads. In front of each cup of beads, add a sticky note with a positive affirmation. Teach your students what each affirmation says and means. Give each student a pipe cleaner and help them create a bracelet by threading the beads onto the pipe cleaner. Optional: Each time they pick up a bead, have them say the corresponding positive affirmation out loud.

Teach kids strategies to deal with hard feelings

Being able to identify and label feelings is a great start. Knowing what to do when unsettling feelings come up is the next step. Feelings like anger, sadness, and confusion will undoubtedly arise from time to time in the classroom. Here are a few social-emotional activities to help your students learn how to cope in a safe environment.

13. Teach students to use I-statements

Encourage students to be mindful about how they’re feeling by helping them practice how to articulate their thoughts without lashing out at others. Give them starters such as “I feel angry when …,” “I feel happy when …,” “I feel frustrated when …,” etc. Once they are able to articulate their feelings, help them strategize ways to handle their feelings.

14. Use strategy cards

These free downloadable cards offer 23 different strategies (with pictures and words) that kids can use to manage their emotions. Print them out, punch a hole in the corner of each card, and attach them to a ring.

15. Download these free posters

Use these posters to teach kids what to do when they feel their emotions escalating. Once they are familiar with the strategies, post the posters in your calm-down corner for kids to reference as they regroup. Included with the downloads are 30 great calm-down ideas like “I can count to 10,” “I can blow a feather,” and more.

16. Stomp out dinosaur-size feelings

Read Tony Mitton’s charming story Dinosaurumpus aloud to your class. Then, play this easy-to-assemble dinosaur game that encourages kids to roar, dance, and stomp out their emotions.

17. Make calm-down jars

Make these mesmerizing calm-down jars for your classroom using just water, oil, and food coloring. Add glitter for a little extra pizzazz. When students are feeling overwhelmed or upset, give them a few minutes to focus on the jar as they turn it upside down and back. Focusing on the movement and colors will help students calm down so they can get back to work.

18. Put together a calm-down kit

Stock a plastic bin with tools to help little ones manage their emotions. Include things such as strategy cards, squeeze balls, calm-down bottles, putty, and breathing exercises. For more ideas, check out this awesome list of 40+ Things To Put in Your Calm-Down Kit .

19. Set up a calm-down corner in your classroom

Kids have a lot of feelings and emotions to process throughout the day. Sometimes it’s all too much, and the result can be bad behavior. A calm-down corner gives kids a place to recenter and refocus so they can join the learning again. Check out this article to learn everything you need to know about setting up a calm-down corner .

20. Teach yoga poses …

Teach your students simple yoga poses to help them get control of their bodies when emotions are running high. For best results, pair poses with deep-breathing techniques. The printable set comes with 50 different yoga poses (including simple descriptions) and suggested sequences of poses to use.

21. … and breathing techniques

Deep breathing reduces stress and anxiety and helps kids learn to manage their emotions. Check out this source for lots of fun ideas for building breathing breaks into your day.

22. Teach coping strategies

In any social situation, conflict is bound to occur. That’s why teaching kids how to peacefully solve problems is essential. Equip your students with the tools they need to manage uncomfortable situations with these coping strategies and free social problem-solving poster set .

23. Tell stories that help kids learn strategies

Conflicts happen, no matter how old we are. The key is learning strategies to help solve conflicts peacefully, and it’s never too early to start! These picture books encourage solving disagreements through communication, compromise, harmony, collaboration, and forgiveness.

24. Make a rainbow road

Label six colored sheets of paper with statements like “I feel ___ (sad, happy, angry, frustrated, etc.) when ____.” Tape the sheets on the floor to create a rainbow road. To play, have a student roll a die, then count and walk to that number sheet. Help them read their statement and then have them fill in the last blank.

Build in lots of opportunities for kids to work on social skills

Like everyone, little ones learn best by doing. Give them lots of opportunities to interact with peers one-on-one, in small groups, and as part of a whole class, ideally with as little adult interference as possible. As they play during social-emotional activities, they’ll learn to navigate among other kids who may have different styles and opinions. Activities like creative play, building projects, board games, and partner reading are great tools to reveal kids’ strengths and challenges as they begin to figure out how to manage school in the best way for themselves.

25. Do your homework

As children start learning more about their feelings and emotions, their social skills start to blossom. This  social skills checklist is an amazing resource that describes in detail the social skills that children learn in their preschool years. Read the article for more SEL activities for preschoolers from The OT Toolbox.

26. Create a culture of kindness

Create a culture of kindness in your classroom. Read your students the story Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud. Then spread the love with a few of these activities .

27. Make kindness trees

Looking for social-emotional activities that provide an opportunity to talk about why being kind is important and how we can practice kindness every day? Draw a large tree trunk on a sheet of chart paper. Then pass out different-colored leaves made from construction paper and ask each student to write an act of kindness they can do on their leaf. After they’ve finished writing their kind acts, help them tape their leaf to the tree trunk as reminders of how they can show kindness and respect for others.

28. Engage in compliment circles

If you need social-emotional activities that don’t require any prep work, hold compliment circles in class. They take very little time but yield powerful results. Create an environment of respect and kindness with this simple activity that teaches kids how to give and receive compliments. Read more here.

29. Play games

Playing interactive games with your students is a great way to start conversations about their feelings. It can make the conversation more centered around fun and less stressful. Read this article from The Art of Education for more SEL tips and a list of 10 Engaging Games To Play That Explore SEL .

30. Read about and practice sharing

In Mo Willems’ adorable book Should I Share My Ice Cream?, Gerald the elephant has to make a quick decision about whether to share his ice cream cone with his best friend, Piggy. Read the story to your class and have a conversation about sharing.

Then try this fun game. Make “waffle” cones out of rolled-up sheets of construction paper, then have students practice passing their “ice cream” to a friend. Not only will students learn cooperation, but this game is also a great opportunity to use polite language such as “please” and “thank you.”

31. Teach students how to partner share

There are many strategies that teach kids to work collaboratively with a partner. And it’s important with little ones to teach these skills explicitly. Read this step-by-step tutorial written by kindergarten teacher Sarah Casady, How To Get Your Students Talking . Also, check out 10 Alternatives to Think-Pair-Share .

32. Use conversation starters

Get the conversation started with questions like “What is your favorite thing to eat at lunch?,” “What was the funniest thing that happened to you today?,” and the like. Be sure the questions are open-ended to avoid getting short yes or no answers. Here are 20 conversation starters from The Early Childhood Academy to get you started.

33. Hone listening skills

Learning to listen, not only to themselves but to one another, is a critical skill for preschoolers. Set aside time each day to sit quietly with your students and listen for sounds in and around the classroom for increasing lengths of time. Or ring a chime and ask students to see how long they can hear the sound it makes. Being able to signal your students when it is time to listen, and having them respond appropriately, is critical for creating a classroom environment that supports learning.

34. Play listening games

Gameplay is one of the best ways to engage young learners. Try some of these listening games , like Simon Says, Telephone, Freeze Dance and more.

35. Rehearse with role-play

Role-play is a wonderful way to teach your preschoolers and kindergartners social behaviors, rules, and expectations. Rehearsing these skills in a safe space, with a teacher’s guidance, helps them learn social norms.

36. Play with puppets

According to Tanja Mcilroy, founder of Empowered Parents, playing with puppets is one of the most educational things you can do with your students. A puppet can be the voice used to correct classroom behavior and teach social skills. Many children will find this less intimidating and more playful than instruction coming from an adult. For more tips, check out The Amazing Benefits of Playing With Puppets in Early Childhood .

Learn about friendship

Learning to make friends is one of the most valuable skills we can teach our preschoolers and kindergartners. Friendships require a plethora of social skills such sharing, compassion, compromise, and honesty.

37. Watch friendship videos

Learning to get along with others takes a lot of practice. Here are our favorite friendship videos that use compassion, wisdom, and humor to tackle what it means to be a good friend. Use them to jump-start conversations with your students as you build your classroom community.

38. Read books about friendship

Friendships are one of the most important parts of childhood—and school. Classroom conversations about making new friends, supporting and appreciating friends, and navigating friendship challenges are always in season, and there’s no better way to launch them than with a good book. Looking for books you can use for social-emotional activities? Here’s a good place to start: Children’s Books About Friendship That Give Us All the Feels .

39. Sing songs about friendship

Music is an amazing way to help your students feel connected and understood. And songs about friendship can definitely foster a sense of community in the classroom. Here, we’ve compiled 50 Fantastic Songs About Friendship for your students to enjoy and bond over.

40. Read poems about friendship

Poetry often speaks to our hearts in a way unlike any other form. And making friends is one of the greatest gifts in life. So why not combine the two and teach your students in a way they can really connect with? Here, we share 30 Heartwarming Poems About Friendship To Share With Students .

41. Make lots of time for friendship-building activities

Here is a list of 25 ideas to get you started.

Practice mindfulness in the classroom

Mindfulness is defined as a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Mindfulness techniques help students handle big emotions (in themselves and others) and cultivate a sense of peace and calm.

42. Introduce mindfulness with children’s books

Source: 15 Books To Teach Kids About Mindfulness

If you’re looking for social-emotional activities that incorporate reading, there are dozens of brilliant books that teach the lesson of mindfulness for preschoolers. A couple of our favorites, just for little ones, are Peaceful Panda  and I Am the Jungle .

43. Make gratitude rocks

Taking time to go inside and think about things you are grateful for is a powerful life skill. For this activity, bring a collection of rocks to class for your students to choose from. Then, using paint, markers, or crayons, give them time to decorate their rocks. Ask your students to take a few minutes and think about something they are grateful for and narrow it down to just one word. Have them write their word with Sharpie on their rock—be sure to give them help if they need it. When everyone is done with their rock, make time for those who are comfortable doing so to share their rock and explain it to their classmates.

44. Go on a nature walk

Take your little ones outside to indulge their five senses. Explore the changing color of leaves, different leaf shapes, pine cones, and more. Listen for birds and other critters. Lie down on the grass and feel the earth beneath you as you look up at the blue sky.

45. Practice progressive muscle relaxation

Most of us, including kids, aren’t always aware of the muscles in our body and how they feel or move. But we can all carry a lot of emotions in our physical bodies. Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a coping skill and relaxation exercise that can help us calm our body and mind by slowly and progressively tensing and relaxing our muscles, one group at a time.

46. Listen to music

It’s not too hard to tell when young students need a break or need a few minutes to recharge. And you know the old saying “Music soothes the savage beast.” Why not pop on this soothing video with gentle guitar music playing in the background for a few minutes? Music makes for fantastic social-emotional activities during snack time, as a brain break, or during transition times.

47. Play in water

Nothing is more calming to the nervous system than water. Set up a water table in your classroom and let students engage in free cooperative play. Include your water table as a station at center time.

48. Play in sand

Just like the water table, a sand table offers the basis for many social-emotional activities to rotate into your stations. Learn about the benefits and try some of these fun ideas from The Early Childhood Academy .

49. Make time for art

There are SO many reasons kids need to paint . Painting is one of the best social-emotional activities because most people find peace and relaxation in art. It focuses their minds and helps them look at the world around them in a much more engaged way.

50. Listen to a rain stick

There’s just something so soothing about the sound of a rain stick . Help your students turn their thought inward by taking a few moments to stop and listen. Turn down the lights and invite your preschoolers or kindergartners to lie down on the rug and close their eyes. Turn the rain stick upside down and back again for a few minutes, leaving a few seconds of silence between each rotation.

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Plus, check out 57 simple mindfulness activities for kids..

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Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood

→ The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood is an incubator of promising research and development projects that appear likely to improve the welfare of young children, from infancy through 7 years, in the United States.

Welfare is broadly defined to support , acculturation , societal integration and childcare . Grants are only made if a successful project outcome will likely be of significant interest to other professionals, within the grantee’s field of endeavor, and would have a direct benefit and potential national application.

The Foundation’s goal is to provide seed money to implement those imaginative proposals that exhibit the greatest chance of improving the lives of young children, on a national scale . Because of the Foundation’s limited funding capability, it seeks to maximize a grant's potential impact.  ፨

Program Guidelines

The Foundation provides funding in the following areas

Parenting Education

To help parents create nurturing environments for their children , we support programs that teach parents about developmental psychology, cultural child rearing differences, pedagogy, issues of health, prenatal care and diet, as well as programs which provide both cognitive and emotional support to parents.

Early Childhood Welfare

Providing a safe and nurturing environment is essential as is imparting the skills of social living in a culturally diverse world. Therefore, the Foundation supports projects that seek to perfect child rearing practices and to identify models that can provide creative, caring environments in which all young children thrive.

Early Childhood Education and Play

We seek to improve the quality of both early childhood teaching and learning , through the development of innovative curricula and research based pedagogical standards, as well as the design of imaginative play materials and learning environments.

Funding Limitations

​the foundation will not fund:.

• programs outside of the United States
• the operation or expansion of existing programs
• the purchase or renovation of capital equipment
• the staging of single events (e.g. concerts, seminars, etc.)
• the creation or acquisition of works of art or literature
• the activities of single individuals or for-profit entities
• political or religious organizations
• programs with religious content
• programs to benefit children residing in foreign countries
• medical research applicable to both adults and children

All letters of inquiry that don't comply with the limitations will be rejected.

Policy on Funding Indirect Expenses for Grants

The Foundation will not fund arbitrary or excessive allocations of indirect expenses even if a project is worthy. The Foundation’s Board will only approve a maximum of 15% of a project’s direct expenses, when earmarked as general and/or administrative overhead.

Policy Regarding Multiple Year Funding Requests

Consistent with the Foundation’s mission, as an incubator of innovative research and development directed to improving the general welfare of young children, we will not fund more than the first year of multiple year projects. It is our belief that having multiple funders, of those worthy projects that demand more sustained efforts, increases the likelihood of their success by ensuring broader oversight and greater long term promotional possibilities.

Application Process

The Foundation employs a two-step grant application process that includes the submission of both a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) and a Full Proposal–the latter only by those applicants requested to do so. This ensures that consideration of Full Proposals is limited to those applications that strictly comply with the Foundation’s programmatic guidelines.

The next deadline for submitting a LOI is May 31, 2024 .

Applicants must submit Letters of Inquiry by clicking on the Email your Letter of Inquiry button below. Once a Letter of Inquiry is received by the Foundation, the Directors will determine if the proposed program fits the Foundation’s funding guidelines. Successful applicants will be invited via email to submit Full Proposals.

Each Letter of Inquiry should include:

• The organization’s official name, website address and contact information
• A brief (250 word maximum) summary of the organization’s mission and recent program history
• The organization’s 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt Status letter from the IRS and its’ Federal Tax ID#
• The total amount of the organization’s annual budget
• The total amount of the grant request
• An indication of the amount and type of support being requested from all sources
• Title of the project and a narrative description (1,000 words or less) of the issue(s) or need(s) to be addressed by the proposal, the work to be performed and the anticipated outcome
• A description of how the proposal fits the Foundation’s program guidelines
• A description of how your project and/or research is innovative in nature

Your Letter of Inquiry must follow the number format listed above. Failure to follow the specified format will disqualify your LOI from review by the Board of Directors. Please note LOI and the name of your organization in the subject line of your email.

There are many proposals that we do not consider because they do not meet the criteria stated in our website. We strive to fund ideas that are adventurous, thoughtful and challenge the status quo. They should have a fresh concept (not rehash an older idea) and a defined method of implementation that promotes new approaches and understanding of early childhood and pushes the boundaries of academic, social and cultural studies and practices.

All written correspondence to the Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood should be directed to Amanda Liedtka, CPA, P.O. Box 746, Lock Haven PA, 17745

This will open your default email client. If you are using a different client, please send the email to [email protected] , and use "Letter of Inquiry" as your subject line.

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Frank and Theresa Caplan were pioneers in the development of creative, imaginative, educational toys for young children. Throughout their lives, Frank and Theresa worked to develop innovative and beautifully designed educational toys and equipment for home and school environment.

In the early thirties, Frank Caplan was a youth worker and one of the first male nursery school teachers in the United States.

In 1949, he co-founded Creative Playthings, a company that designed and manufactured toys to enhance the imagination and learning of young children.

By the 1950’s, Creative Playthings was one of the most important manufacturers and suppliers of early childhood educational toys and equipment. They collaborated with internationally known artists, such as Nino Vitali, to design toys, as well Milton Hebald, Isamu Noguchi, Robert Winston and architects like Louis Kahn to design outdoor playscapes and sculptures.

Creative Playthings researched and developed innovative curriculum materials for schools and furniture that could be stacked and rearranged to allow for flexibility within the classroom. They introduced dolls, which were racially diverse, and anatomically correct boy and girl dolls, which were provocative at the time.

In 1975, Frank Caplan and his wife, Theresa, created The Princeton Center for Infancy and Early Childhood, a pioneering research and publishing organization focusing on materials for parent education. They researched and wrote a national bestselling series on early childhood development called The First Twelve Months of Life (1977), The Second Twelve Months of Life (1978), and The Early Childhood Years: The 2-6 Year Old (1983). In addition, Frank and Theresa co-authored The Power of Play in 1973.

They wanted to encourage parents’ understanding and knowledge about the extraordinary time of infancy and early childhood.

The Caplan Foundation for Early Childhood was created in 2014 as a result of a bequest from Theresa Caplan stipulating her estate be used to incubate innovation and research addressing the needs of children from birth through age seven.

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Project spectrum.

An alternative approach to assessment and curriculum development for the preschool and early primary years

Project Spectrum offers an alternative approach to assessment and curriculum development for the preschool and early primary years. Project Spectrum's work is based on the belief that each child exhibits a distinctive profile of different abilities, or spectrum of intelligences. These intelligences are not fixed; rather, they can be enhanced by educational opportunities such as an environment rich in stimulating materials and activities. The Spectrum approach emphasizes identifying children's areas of strength and using this information as the basis for an individualized educational program.

The goal of the project from 1984 to 1988 was to determine whether distinctive intellectual strengths could be identified and assessed in children as young as four years old. Spectrum researchers designed assessment activities in seven different domains of knowledge: language, math, music, art, social understanding, science, and movement. The assessments are embedded in meaningful, hands-on activities, such as playing a bus game, telling a story with a storyboard, and taking apart and assembling meat grinders.

From 1988 to 1993, Spectrum researchers worked in public schools in Somerville and Roxbury, Massachusetts to address the needs of children who were slightly older (K-2), including those at risk for school failure. During this time, work included: 1) developing a modified field inventory using a subset of the original assessment activities; 2) designing learning center activities that help children develop key abilities in eight domains; 3) adapting the Spectrum framework for a children's museum; and 4) creating a mentorship program based on the Spectrum approach in an inner city elementary school.

The Spectrum approach can be used in a variety of ways: as an alternative assessment technique, as a set of engaging curriculum activities, or as a powerful component for intervention programs. In a broader sense, Spectrum provides a theoretical framework that can help to bring about important changes in the understanding of children's growth, appreciation of children's strengths, and the creation of an optimal educational atmosphere for children's learning.

Project Info

Howard Gardner

Mara Krechevsky

Related resources.

- View all Project Spectrum resources -

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What you need to know about early childhood care and education

Why is early childhood care and education so important  .

Early childhood care and education (ECCE), which addresses the period from birth to 8 years old, is important because it capitalizes on a period of rich brain development for children and, when it is of good quality, can help them achieve their full potential. It can lay the foundation for good health and nutrition, learning and educational success, social-emotional learning, and economic productivity throughout life. Despite the evidence for these social, human and economic developmental gains, it is still often given low priority in education policy and investment and, where it does exist, may exclude marginalized groups. ECCE has its own extra vulnerability in that much of it is privately provided. 

What is the global situation for ECCE? 

As a snapshot of disparity, worldwide 75% of children were enrolled in pre-primary education one year before the official primary entry age in the school year ending in 2019, but in sub-Saharan Africa and in Northern Africa and Western Asia the rate was about 50% (GEM report 2021).

In times of crisis the closure of schools and other institutions that provide social protection, health, nutrition, learning and socio-emotional nurturing to young children represents an immense threat to their development potential. ECCE was already a ‘blind spot’ in many countries before the COVID-19 pandemic and for that reason was made a part of the #Save Our Future campaign launched by UNESCO and partner organizations to protect and prioritize education as the key to recovery and the best investment for the future.  

Although some countries took measures to support families, caregivers and children, such as financial support, psychological counselling, and emergency childcare services for frontline volunteers, pre-primary education was relatively neglected compared to other levels of education. 

A UNESCO COVID-19 Education webinar , organized in 2020, under the patronage of Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development, focused on the importance of ECCE to ensure learning and wellbeing of young children, especially the vulnerable, when educational and care services are disrupted. 

What is the basis for UNESCO’s approach to this work? 

UNESCO regards ECCE as a fundamental and integral part of the education system and a solid foundation on which to build lifelong education, lives and careers. All of its work in this area is aligned with target 4.2 of Sustainable Development Goal 4 which aims to ‘By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education.’ To further advance this target, UNESCO established a new Global Partnership Strategy to bridge the gap and ensure that quality ECCE, early primary school years, and family education, are available for all children.  

UNESCO’s work is based on the idea that ‘Learning begins at birth’ introduced into the World Declaration on Education for All  Jomtien declaration . As inscribed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), young children have the right not only to survive but to thrive and develop to their fullest potential. In 2000 the international community at the World Education Forum (Dakar 2000) committed itself to ‘expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.’ Ten years later, UNESCO’s World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education (Moscow 2010) warned that the EFA Goal on ECCE was ‘at great risk of not being achieved by 2015 unless urgent and resolute action is taken’ and highlighted ECCE as a social, human and economic development imperative. 

The SDG4 - Education 2030 agenda marked the first global commitment to ECCE beyond the education community and was followed by other international and regional initiatives and statements. 

How does UNESCO work to promote ECCE? 

UNESCO collaborates with governments and other key stakeholders concerned with the care and education of young children from birth until primary school entry. Its ECCE activities focus on promoting holistic and quality pre-primary education for all children over the age of 3, ensuring the use of developmentally appropriate pedagogies and emphasizing the links with primary education as well as early childhood health, nutrition and social services.  

Concretely it works with Member States at national, regional and international levels by influencing policies and practices through evidence-based advocacy, knowledge generation and sharing, partnership-building, capacity-building and technical assistance. These include work in teacher development through projects like STEPP (The Survey of Teachers in Pre-Primary Education), parenting education and family literacy, and measurement and monitoring. 

UNESCO promotes the integration of an ECCE component in countries’ education sector plans to address the needs of different age groups and includes the marginalized. Partnerships that involve working with health, nutrition and social sectors as well as civil society and private sector actors help widen the reach to children.  

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Project-Based Learning (PBL) in Preschools

Introduce your preschoolers to the real world by incorporating project-based learning into your curriculum.

• brightwheel

Children are naturally curious. The early childhood years are a fundamental time in a child’s life when they begin learning about themselves and the world around them. While some preschool curriculums can narrow a child’s perspective down to the inside of their classroom or home, project-based learning (PBL) helps children gain valuable knowledge and skills by leading them past their immediate environment and expanding their view to allow them to explore the real world. 

In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about project-based learning—what it is, why it’s important, and how you can implement it in your early childhood education program.

What is project-based learning?

Project-based learning (PBL) is a teaching method that enables children to gain useful knowledge and skills by engaging and actively exploring real-world problems and creating solutions. The goal of using this approach is to promote the development of cognitive skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and logical reasoning, and social-emotional skills, such as social awareness, teamwork, and self-regulation. Project-based learning fuses critical thinking and creativity with collaboration and communication so children acquire deep knowledge on the selected topic or content.

To help educators ensure that children acquire the knowledge, understanding, and skills they need to be successful learners, the Buck Institute for Education PBLWorks has outlined seven essential characteristics of project-based learning :

• A challenging problem or question: The project is framed by a meaningful problem to be solved or a question to answer, at the appropriate level of challenge.
• Sustained inquiry: Children engage in an extended process of posing questions, finding resources, and applying information.
• Authenticity: The project involves real-world context, tasks and tools, quality standards, or impact, or the project speaks to personal concerns, interests, and issues in the children’s lives.
• Children's voice and choice: Children make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create, and express their ideas in their voice.
• Reflection: Children and teachers reflect on the learning, the effectiveness of their question and project activities, the quality of work, obstacles that arise, and strategies for overcoming them.
• Critique and revision: Children give, receive, and apply feedback to improve their processes and products.
• Public product: Children make their project work public by sharing it with and explaining or presenting it to people beyond the classroom.

When these elements are incorporated into building a PBL curriculum, they can increase a child’s success and positively affect their long-term growth.

Why is project-based learning important?

Traditional learning rarely ventures outside the classroom. Curriculums are often built to focus on the academic knowledge and skills that children need to be successful in the classroom as they transition from early childhood education to higher education. Project-based learning enables young children to build and develop cognitive and social-emotional skills and teaches them how to apply them to situations or challenges they’ll face in the real world.

In addition to preparing children for real-world experiences, project-based learning is an effective tool for increasing engagement in the classroom. The purpose of engagement is sometimes lost in education. However, instead of the focus being solely on a child’s interest in a topic or activity, the focus needs to shift to whether it’s cognitively engaging for the child. Your preschoolers might be interested in a lesson. However, you might want to consider asking: Are they curious? Are they asking questions? Are they using mental effort? By design, project-based learning is set up to promote meaningful learning where children use their autonomy to ask questions and create solutions.

The importance of utilizing project-based learning is evident when comparing the method to traditional projects. Traditional projects have always been a tool used to facilitate learning, but the differences between projects and project-based learning are what help demonstrate the benefits of the latter. 

Projects and project-based learning are often likened to a dessert and a main course, respectively. Projects are often a supplement added to the end of a lesson. They typically follow the direction of a teacher, focus on the product, and can be completed alone or at home. Depending on the scope of the lesson, it is also possible for projects to be unrelated to standards and skills. 

Project-based learning, however, can be seen as the main course. It is the lesson. Unlike traditional projects, PBL:

• Is driven by children's inquiry
• Focuses on the product and process
• Involves collaboration with children and in-class guidance from teachers
• Has real-world context and application

An important component of project-based learning is that it aligns with the skills and early learning standards set by each state for its early childhood education programs. A tool like brightwheel’s lesson plan software comes preloaded with the learning standards of each state, making it possible for you to use project-based learning to plan lessons. You can easily customize your learning standards to meet the requirements of your state and the needs of your children.

Project-based learning projects for preschoolers

Project-based learning creates opportunities for your children to engage in their education and development through active exploration. There is a vast pool of knowledge and skills you can focus on while using collaborative classroom projects, STEM projects, art projects, and more. The following examples provide great insight into how your project-based learning curriculum can look.

Investigation on bones

Eastern Connecticut State University provides a project-based curriculum about bones geared toward children between 18 months and five years old. They’ve built their lessons on five pillars: scaffolding play, balanced schedule, evidence-based classroom environments, portfolio assessment, and integrated planning webs. These pillars support play experiences in learning centers, planned whole-group experiences, teacher-guided outdoor play, intentional transitions, and cooperative learning groups.

The lesson plan is outlined in five stages:

• Stage 1: Topic selection, research, webbing, and planning
• Stage 2: Assessing prior knowledge
• Stage 3: Initiation
• Stage 4: Awareness phase
• Stage 5: Inquiry across contexts

During stage one, you select several content goals and plan key experiences related to performance standards. During stage two, you spend time asking your children questions to assess their knowledge on the topic. Using this information, you implement specific activities for scaffolding .

Stage three is where you can see the lesson take form. During initiation, the teacher in this example shares an x-ray and a letter from a friend explaining that she has broken her foot. This information is supplemented with books on breaking legs and arms and wearing casts. During stage four, the awareness stage, children wear gloves and trace a marker over where they feel bones in their hands. The purpose of this activity is described as increasing the children’s awareness of where they have bones and what bones feel like and then building interest around them.

Stage five involves dramatic play, where children role play a radiologist comparing bones or a patient at a radiologist’s office. Children also use blocks to build a skeleton or conduct experiments to determine whether milk or soda is better for bones. Through these methods, the children can come up with their own ideas about the importance of bones and how they protect vital organs.

Lastly, after going over their findings with the class, this project-based learning lesson plan ends with a science fair, where the children talk through their lessons.

The recess path

The Buck Institute for Education PBLWorks provides a sample project-based learning lesson plan that answers the question, “How can we create a recess path for children in our school to use when we have indoor recess?”   The goal of this lesson plan is to guide children into investigating different sensory paths while learning why recess might be held indoors—due to weather and temperature. 

This project-based learning lesson is centered around three objectives: considerations, learning goals, and major products. The lesson includes questions you can ask as you consider your preschoolers, the context, and the content and skills of the lesson.

• Consider your preschoolers:
• What do your preschoolers already know about measurement, weather, and temperature?
• How can path movements be designed to include children with physical disabilities?
• Consider the context:
• Where would the best place be for a sensory path?
• What kinds of community partners might serve as guest speakers or mentors to your children during this project?
• Consider the content and skills:

What shared texts might deepen children's engagement with the topics and themes in this project?

What lessons, activities, and supports might you provide to help children develop their work?

The learning goals ensure that the lesson is aligned with early learning standards. In this example, the standards for this lesson target literacy, science, and mathematics. 

At the end of the project, the products are individual, class-wide, and school-wide. This lesson calls for children to create a weather-tracking journal as well as a how-to book, where they give instructions on their path. This spans to the class, where the entire group reviews the most popular paths. Lastly, the product is made public, where you have your children present their paths to other classes.

Implementing project-based learning in early childhood

Project-based learning requires preparation and planning. It begins with a challenging problem or question that you guide your preschoolers toward finding the solution to. Use the following steps to begin implementing PBL in your classroom.

Design a plan

To use project-based learning in your preschool classroom, start with a question. Ensure that the answer and the process your preschoolers take to find a solution align with the knowledge and skill standards they are learning and developing for their age.

In the previous example from PBLWorks, they provided the question: ”How can we create a recess path for children in our school to use when we have indoor recess?” Once you have your question, make the question more engaging for your children. 

Instead, you might ask them: “How can we keep moving during recess when we can’t go outside?” As you design and plan the lesson, you can determine how you’ll introduce the idea of a recess path. At this time, you’ll select activities that support the question and identify the materials and resources you’ll make available to your children.

Create a schedule

How much time will you give your preschoolers to work on this project? Time management is a skill your children have yet to master. Keep them on track at different stages of the project. Help them schedule their tasks and set deadlines. 

Still, it’s important to stay flexible because things happen. Children lose interest and get distracted. Build extra time into the schedule to allow children to explore new directions. The goal of project-based learning is to allow your children to solve problems themselves, and sometimes that involves a new idea in the midst of exploring an existing one. 

Manage and guide the process

Project-based learning is a great opportunity for your children to start experiencing autonomy as they problem-solve and collaborate with their peers. You can still manage and guide their project to ensure their learning, active participation, and responsibility. This involves providing relevant materials and resources, teaching and modeling collaborative work, and designating roles within a group.

Similar to the seven essential characteristics of project-based learning is a “gold standard” of seven project-based teaching practices created by PBLWorks. When incorporating the steps outlined above, the following standards create an ideal foundation for implementing PBL in an early childhood setting:

• Design and plan: You create or adapt projects for your preschoolers. You plan its implementation from beginning to end while allowing for some degree of children's voice and choice.
• Align to standards: You use standards to plan a project and make sure it addresses key knowledge and understanding.
• Build the culture: You promote independence and growth, open-ended inquiries, and team spirit.
• Manage activities: You work with children to organize tasks and schedules, find and use resources, and create products to make them public.
• Scaffold children's learning: You employ a variety of lessons, tools, and instructional strategies to support all children in reaching project goals.
• Assess children's learning: You use formative and summative assessments of knowledge, understanding, and success skills.
• Engage and coach: You engage in learning and creating alongside your children, identifying when they need skill-building, redirection, encouragement, and celebration.

Entering the real world

Project-based learning can be an innovative transition. As the teacher, you transition from directing your children through projects or challenges to guiding them and giving them tools to create solutions.

By exploring real-world situations and using creativity and collaboration to ask questions and engage in problem-solving, your preschoolers can build and strengthen the academic and social-emotional skills they need to be successful in the classroom and beyond.

Brightwheel is the complete solution for early education providers, enabling you to streamline your center’s operations and build a stand-out reputation. Brightwheel connects the most critical aspects of running your center—including sign in and out, parent communications, tuition billing, and licensing and compliance—in one easy-to-use tool, along with providing best-in-class customer support and coaching. Brightwheel is trusted by thousands of early education centers and millions of parents. Learn more at   mybrightwheel.com.

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Creating Flexible Learning Zones in Early Childhood Education

May 28th 2024

Imagine a vibrant classroom buzzing with activity. In one corner, curious explorers build a magnificent, fantastical castle out of building blocks. Later, budding artists fingerpaint masterpieces on an easel. After, groups gather to learn nursery rhymes or sing songs. This is the magical medley of early childhood education, or ECE — a thriving space where young minds discover, explore, and create.

But how do you create this wonderland of learning? Here's where the playful puzzle pieces of ECE classrooms come in: modular space solutions.

Divide and Conquer Zones with Room Dividers

Think of your classroom as a miniature world, with distinct zones dedicated to varying activities. Early childhood development activities can vary from school to school, but here are five foundations and a few examples for each:

• Movement Activities: Obstacle courses, balancing beans, hopscotch, scavenger hunts.
• Art Activities: Drawing (crayons, markers, colored pencils, chalk), painting, box construction, Play-Doh, paper plate art.
• Music Activities: Learning nursery rhymes and poems, singing songs, playing instruments, dancing.
• Reading: Alphabet learning and recognition games, story time, flap books and sensory books.
• Play: Fantasy or dress-up play, structured games with rules (Duck, Duck, Gray Duck; Simon Says, board games), puzzles, memory cards, building blocks.

Versare offers a variety of  educational room divider options to create these distinct zones with ease —  Room Divider 360® ,  StraightWall™ Sliding Portable Partition ,  EverBlock® Wall Kit , and  Hush Screen ™ , just to name a few. Unlike permanent walls, modular dividers can be easily rearranged. This allows you to adjust the classroom layout on the fly to accommodate different activities, group sizes, or learning styles. Need a larger space for group projects today? Simply reconfigure the dividers.

Dividers go beyond separating space. They can double as art exhibits, whether it’s a wide canvas like the Room Divider 360, or the space-saving  Galleria™ Indoor Outdoor Display Board . Highlight student artwork on the front and back sides of the divider, transforming them into mini art galleries that celebrate creativity and inspire young learners. (Remember, display artwork at the youngsters’ eye level so they can see their own and others’ work.) 

And arrange furniture and learning zones with traffic flow in mind. Ensure easy access to materials and allow ample space for movement and collaboration. Wide walkways between tables allow children to navigate the room safely and explore all the zones you've created.

Setting a Calm and Focused Stage 

With so much exploration happening, classrooms can and do get noisy. High noise levels  disrupt young learners' ability to hear, remember, and focus , leading to feelings of helplessness and decreased motivation. This is where acoustical support comes in. Our  SoundSorb™ wall-mounted panels ,  acoustic ceiling panels , and freestanding  acoustic room dividers are the perfect solutions for reducing noise levels in a bustling environment. These can double as additional display surfaces for signs, posters, or even more artwork, creating a visually engaging space.

Keep Color in Mind

Colors can be powerful tools in shaping a space. For instance, vibrant palettes in arts and crafts areas spark creativity and imagination, while muted greens, blues, and neutrals in reading nooks promote focused attention to the spoken or written word. Distinct color schemes can visually separate zones, making it easier for youngsters to navigate the classroom and understand the purpose of each space.

Flexible Seating for Flexible Minds

Early learners come in all shapes and sizes, and so should their furniture. Bean bag chairs, floor cushions, and stability balls offer a variety of seating options that cater to different learning styles and preferences. This allows young students the freedom to find the most comfortable and engaging position to learn. Be sure the tables, desk chairs, and other seating options are the appropriate size and height for children.

Psst, don't forget about the grown-ups either — appropriate-sized desks and chairs with back support are essential for educators, too! The DIY  EverBlock® Desk Kit incorporates recyclable blocks and nesting metal desktops to create beautiful and sturdy modular furniture for both kiddos and educators. And it corresponds well with  EverBlock® Pony Wall Kit , making for a bold, fun-meets-functional, life-size Lego-like room divider option.

Organization is Key

A well-organized space empowers young learners to explore and learn independently. Clear bins, labeled shelves, and designated cubbies keep materials neatly stored and easily accessible on  EverBlock® Shelving Kit and  EverBlock® Double Shelving Kit . Grouping materials by theme or activity makes them even easier to find.

Let There Be Light

Maximize your classroom's layout to take advantage of available windows. Light-colored walls become your allies, reflecting natural light and creating a spacious, airy feel. Consider adjustable blinds to manage harsh sunlight while maintaining that bright and cheerful atmosphere. And swap harsh fluorescents for dimmable LEDs. LED lights are better for your eye health than fluorescents.

Empower Yourself as a Designer with Versare

An early childhood classroom is a living, breathing space that adapts alongside its curious kiddos. These strategies are your springboard! Implement them, tweak them, and make them your own. And lean on us for support along the way —  check out the website , call 855-323-8126, or email  [email protected] .

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Framework for Effective Practice

The six elements of the Framework for Effective Practice, or House Framework are:

• Interaction and Environments : Providing nurturing, responsive, and effective interactions, and engaging environments
• Curriculum : Implementing research-based curriculum and teaching practices
• Screening and Assessment : Using screening and ongoing assessment of children's skills
• Individualized Support : Embedding highly individualized teaching and learning
• Families : Engaging parents and families
• Equity-focused Practices : Promoting high-quality equitable learning environments

When these elements are connected, they form a single structure that surrounds the family in the center. Family is at the heart of the house. Each element is implemented in partnership with parents and families as co-educators in their cultural and community context. Equity-focused practices and policies not only surround the house but are embedded throughout each element to ensure equitable access, belonging, high-quality nurturing and joyful experiences, and positive outcomes for all children and families.

Equitable Teaching and Learning Practices

Equity Fair and just treatment to all children, families, and those who support them, enabling everyone to achieve their full potential. Equity promotes consistent, systemic, and unbiased access to comprehensive services and systems for everyone, including marginalized groups — African American, Black, Latino, Hispanic, Indigenous, American Indian, Alaska Native, Asian American, Pacific Islander, or other people of color; members of religious minorities; people who are LGBTQIA2S+ ; people with disabilities; people who live in rural areas; and people adversely affected by persistent poverty or other forms of inequality. The terms “children and families who are historically and contemporarily marginalized” and “children and families with marginalized identities” are used throughout this resource. Specific groups are named when appropriate.

Equitable teaching and learning practices are built on positive and nurturing relationships and interactions that are culturally and linguistically responsive, bias conscious, and affirm all aspects of children’s identities — race, ethnicity, culture, language, disability, gender, socioeconomic status, etc. Children who are Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian, and all children of color, as well as children with disabilities, children experiencing poverty, children whose parents are LGBTQIA2S+ , and their families bring a wealth of diversity and knowledge rooted in cultural ways of knowing and being, which should be centered during their learning experience. Centering their lived experiences seeks to remedy the impacts of historical and contemporary marginalization while creating equitable learning environments where children’s joy, brilliance, and identities are validated.

Equity-focused practices teach through the lens of culture in authentic ways that validate children's and families’ identities to support development and learning. It is necessary for early learning leaders, education staff (e.g., teachers, home visitors, family child care providers), and coaches to consider how their beliefs and practices work to disrupt bias to encourage a joy in learning. To accomplish this goal, equity-focused practices are an essential practice and elevated within each element of the House Framework.

Equity-focused Mindset

An equity-focused mindset maintains the following: Keeping children and families at the center Being aware of our own biases and assumptions Understanding how bias and assumption lead to prejudiced attitudes, beliefs, and actions toward children and families, particularly those whose identities have been historically and contemporarily marginalized

Education staff play a critical part in children’s learning experiences in early childhood and beyond. When staff create learning environments characterized by interactions that are positive and strength-based, children and families experience a sense of belonging. To accomplish this, education staff need to have an equity-focused mindset. Being equity-focused means that one is consciously aware of the historical and contemporary injustices and discrimination that have marginalized the identities of children and their families in our society. It requires an understanding of the barriers that racism, classism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, xenophobia, and other systems of oppression have had on children and families’ lived experiences. It also means that beyond awareness and understanding, one is committed to action to disrupt these inequities within our spheres of influence so children and families can thrive. Having an equity-focused mindset is key to working with children and families from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and ability backgrounds. In the House Framework, this equity-focused mindset is shown as the strong siding that surrounds the house. It highlights the importance of entering all aspects of the work with awareness of how one’s biases and daily actions impact children and families.

Having an equity-focused mindset involves:

• Committing to ongoing self-reflection about one’s actions, biases, attitudes, and beliefs 
• Learning about the historical and contemporary aspects of our society that unjustly discriminate against people and communities based on their intersecting identities 
• Critically reflecting on and unlearning research and educational framings that are deficit-based  
• Applying strength-based language and approaches that center the joy and brilliance of all children, particularly children of color and children with disabilities 
• Fostering learning environments where children and their families’ intersecting identities are included as valuable parts of children’s development and learning 
• Advocating for greater equity in children and families’ access to high-quality education and services, positive and fair experiences, and outcomes that are not based on one’s demographic variables

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TOP > Projects > ECEC around the World > [UNESCO] Report of the UNESCO "World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education"

[UNESCO] Report of the UNESCO "World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education"

On September 27-29, 2010, I participated in the "World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education" held in Moscow, Russia, as a member of Japanese government delegation. This is a report of the discussions at the general and individual meetings.

The conference was sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and supported by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA). The Government of Russian Federation and the City of Moscow served as the host country/city. In addition to the delegation from more than 130 countries, many people from international organizations and NGOs participated in the conference. The participants enthusiastically discussed the present situation and the problems of Early Childhood Education for three days.

This is the first world conference to focus on early childhood education. According to the staff of UNESCO, "in the field of education, a number of conferences and much discussion have taken place internationally on school education and lifelong education, but there has not been active discussion on early childhood education. The conference held this time is therefore expected to kindle active discussion in each country." With such an idea, this world conference was held in that hopes that the issues of early childhood education and care would become an important agenda in many countries.

The discussion at the conference revealed that many developed and developing countries have common problems with early childhood education. For example, as referred to in the title of the conference many countries do not know how the government should balance support for the two areas of education and care" in childhood.. Various opinions are also expressed in Japan on the balance between education and childcare, as typified by the issue of the unification of kindergartens and nursery schools.

Above all, the conference presentations stressed that providing high-quality education to all children is an issue related to human rights. In other words, one of the most important purposes of the conference was soliciting international agreement that "the access to education is a basic human right of children and that is necessary for the government of each country and the society as a whole to make efforts to improve early childhood education."

In addition, there was a considerable discussion on how to improve the quality of early childhood education and how the quality should be evaluated. When thinking about the quality of early childhood education, each country has different ideas about whether cognitive aspects (memory, acquisition and expression of knowledge, and concept development) or emotional aspects should be emphasized, and it finds the issue is very complicated. Moreover, as for the evaluation of the quality of education, some countries measure cognitive development by conforming to the so-called "achievement test," while other countries consider such assessment to be inappropriate for understanding the results of approaches toward preschool children. During the discussion, it was pointed out that three aspects: "educational quality," "quality of teachers and other educators," and "quality of programs" should be considered separately when looking at the quality of early childhood education

Before evaluating the content of education, however, there is the problem that early childhood education is not common in many developing countries. In this regard, UNESCO as a sponsor emphasized as their significant achievement that they had agreed to develop the "Child Development Index" based on the Conference discussions. The Index measures the present environment of children in each country and the degree of prevalence of early childhood education, by combining the indices of the mortality rate and low birth weight among children aged under 5 as well as the attendance rate at elementary school. Based on the index established in 1990 by the international NGO, "Save the Children UK," UNESCO will add some necessary items to advance the development of the index in cooperation with the specialists in statistics.

On the last day of the conference, "The Moscow Framework of Action" was adopted. "The Moscow Framework of Action" confirmed that "the lack of political commitment (to strengthen the support for early childhood education) and public funds, the difficulty in improving early childhood education, and the lack of outside support (such as development assistance) for its improvement" are major problems for today's early childhood education, particularly in the developing countries. In addition, it was pointed out that the promotion of international development assistance by developed countries and international organizations was essential, so that each country would increase financial support for early childhood education in developing countries.

During the conference, the importance of considering early childhood education from such perspectives as the improvement of the quality of basic education particularly in developing countries was pointed out. However, when developed countries including Japan consider the issues of early childhood education in their own country, they must notice a certain gap between the content of the discussion during the conference and the actual situation at home. In that sense, I felt difficulty in discussing a particular topic at an international conference, in which countries with various different situations participate.

For example, the conference this time was entitled "Early Childhood Care and Education." However, it seemed that many participants from developing countries were more likely to discuss the aspect of "care" on the basis of their common reality of poverty and poor sanitary conditions, although they were strongly aware of the importance of improving "education." This clearly reflects the social-economic realities of the developing countries.

Nevertheless, when comparing early childhood education in developed and developing countries, I strongly felt that they had many common issues, such as improving the quality of education; the importance ofevaluation method development; promoting a smooth transition from kindergarten to elementary school; and the lack of cooperation among government agencies. Regardless of whether the country is developing or developed, it was highlighted that the insufficient provision of public funds for the area of early childhood education is a big problem. Since this is a topic of current concern, I felt the need for further discussion on the financial issues of early childhood education both domestically and internationally.

Among thevarious presentations and reports, the keynote speech by Professor Jack P. Shonkoff of Harvard University at the general meeting on the first day of the Conference was extremely impressive. Based on the latest knowledge of brain science, he explained infant/child development in an easily comprehensible manner. What was most impressive was his remark: "it is only in the past 10 years that the discourses of traditional childrearing as practiced in various communities were proved to be scientifically correct". People have understood what they thought it was important instinctively and experientially, and have practiced it in each community. Professor Shonkoff pointed out that today's science plays an important role to prove the rightness of such practices. This indicates that when considering early childhood education and care, we should not always look for the new, but should learn from the experience and knowledge (or wisdom) inherited from each society. However, such experience and knowledge needs to be applied in the way suitable for the children in modern society.

The conference turned out to be extremely productive for me. I listened to discussions about early childhood education from the broad standpoint, and had the chance to exchange opinions with participants from many countries and institutions. In addition, it was a precious opportunity for me to rethink issues of early childhood education based on my specialty in international cooperation in education for developing countries.

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Recap of 5/22 OSAH Webinar Exploring Connections between Early Childhood Development, Health, Education, and Affordable Housing

Opportunity Starts at Home   (OSAH) campaign partner ZERO TO THREE hosted a webinar, “A National Call for Safe, Affordable Housing for Our Children,” on May 22. On the webinar, leading experts from the OSAH campaign, Children’s HealthWatch, SchoolHouse Connection, and the Connecticut Head Start on Housing Program discussed recent findings about the intersections of early childhood development, health, education, and affordable housing and the critical role that the early childhood development sector has in mitigating the impact of housing instability and homelessness.   

Mollyrose Schaffner, senior policy analyst at ZERO TO THREE, shared findings from the 2023 State of Babies Yearbook that highlight the significant health and developmental risks of housing instability for babies and young children and the importance of stable housing in early childhood development.  

Erin Patterson, director of education initiatives at SchoolHouse Connection, discussed conclusions from a recent report  that analyzed state-by-state data on infant and toddler homelessness. She also discussed how homelessness is defined in the report and the developmental consequences of homelessness for young children. 

Dr. Megan Sandel, co-lead principal investigator at Children’s HealthWatch, discussed the health risks that housing instability and homelessness pose for infants and young children and how stable, affordable housing can mitigate those risks.  

Karen Pascale, director of the Connecticut Head Start Collaboration Office, and Dr. Shanté Hanks, director of Head Start on Housing (HSOH), highlighted the partnership between Head Start and the Connecticut Department of Housing in running the state’s innovative Head Start on Housing Program. They shared the program’s successes and best practices for states interested in similar collaboration.  

The full panel discussed why stable, affordable housing is a central concern in advancement of their organization’s mission and how housing advocates can best partner with advocates in the early childhood development, health, and education sectors. OSAH national partners also shared why they participate in the OSAH campaign and encouraged interested attendees to join the OSAH Roundtable.  

ZERO TO THREE and SchoolHouse Connection are OSAH Roundtable members, and Children’s HealthWatch sits on the Steering Committee. See the full list of OSAH Roundtable and Steering Committee members here .  

Watch the recording at: https://tinyurl.com/bdcjt2jj

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Original research, fostering creativity in kindergarten: the impact of collaborative project-based learning, about the author(s).

Background:  Early childhood education (ECE) is crucial in cultivating creativity, especially in today’s tech-savvy world. This study explores the impact of collaborative project-based learning (PjBL) with computer and play motivation on kindergarten children’s creativity.

Aim:  Our research aimed to determine if collaborative PjBL, combined with computer-based activities, enhances creativity compared to independent PjBL. We also examined the influence of play motivation on computer-based creativity.

Setting:  The study was conducted in Makassar Lotus Kindergarten, Indonesia, involving 30 Grade B kindergarten students.

Methods:  We employed a post-test control group design and systematically selected two matched classes. The experimental group engaged in collaborative PjBL, focussing on computer activities to foster creativity, while the control group experienced independent PjBL. Creativity assessment encompassed originality, art, fluency, flexibility, self-actualisation, and creative skills.

Results:  Collaborative PjBL had a more significant impact on children’s computer-based creativity than independent PjBL. Children with high play motivation also exhibited higher creativity levels during computer-based activities.

Conclusion:  This study underscores the potential of collaborative PjBL in promoting creativity among kindergarten children in the digital era. It highlights the significance of innovative teaching methods and children’s intrinsic motivation in nurturing creativity.

Contribution:  These findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on effective ECE strategies that harness technology to foster creativity.

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The Effectiveness Of Early Childhood Education Teachers In Ethiope East LGA Of Delta State

​Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of early childhood education teachers in Ethiope East LGA of Delta State. To achieve this, the research is conducted around the following sub objectives:

• To find out whether there is a relationship between early childhood education teachers effectiveness and pupils’ academic performance.
• To examine the impact of early childhood education teachers effectiveness on pupils’ academic performance in Ethiope East LGA of Delta State.
• To identify the major challenges early childhood education teachers face in Ethiope East LGA.
• To explore the strategies teachers use to overcome these challenges in Ethiope East LGA.

Research Questions

Based on the above research problem and objectives, the following questions have been developed for the study:

• Is there a relationship between early childhood education teachers effectiveness and pupils’ academic performance?
• What are the impact of early childhood education teachers effectiveness on pupils’ academic performance in Ethiope East LGA of Delta State?
• What are the major challenges early childhood education teachers face in Ethiope East LGA?
• What are the strategies teachers use to overcome these challenges in Ethiope East LGA.?

Research Hypothesis

• Ho: There is no relationship between early childhood education teachers effectiveness and pupils’ academic performance.
• Ha: There is no relationship between early childhood education teachers effectiveness and pupils’ academic performance.
• Table of Content
• Certification
• Acknowledgement
• List of Tables

Chapter One:

Introduction.

• 1.1 Background of the Study
• 1.2 Statement of the Problem
• 1.3 Objective of the Study
• 1.4 Research Questions
• 1.5 Research Hypothesis
• 1.6 Significance of the Study
• 1.7 Scope of the Study
• 1.8 Limitation of the Study
• 1.9 Definition of Terms
• 1.10 Organisations of the Study

Chapter Two:

Review of literature.

• 2.1 Conceptual Framework
• 2.2 Theoretical Framework
• 2.3 Empirical Review

Chapter Three:

Research methodology.

• 3.1 Research Design
• 3.2 Population of the Study
• 3.3 Sample Size Determination
• 3.4 Sample Size Selection Technique and Procedure
• 3.5 Research Instrument and Administration
• 3.6 Method of Data Collection
• 3.7 Method of Data Analysis
• 3.8 Validity of the Study
• 3.9 Reliability of the Study
• 3.10 Ethical Consideration

Chapter Four:

Data presentation and analysis.

• 4.1 Data Presentation
• 4.2 Analysis of Data
• 4.3 Answering Research Questions
• 4.4 Test of Hypotheses

Chapter Five:

Summary, conclusion and recommendation.

• 5.1 Summary
• 5.2 Conclusion
• 5.3 Recommendation
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