Examples Of Developmentally Appropriate Practices

Developmentally Appropriate Practices Developmentally appropriate practices, or DAP, are how you are able to teach each child according to his or her needs. By definition, DAP is defined as “an approach to teaching grounded in the research on how young children develop and learn and in what is known about effective early education. Its framework is designed to promote young children’s optimal learning and development.” (naeyc) For teachers, it means that you understand the child and her background. It’s so important to understand a child, her background, and her development in order to know how to best help each child progress. It’s when you plan the curriculum and the development of each child together that you can make a true difference.
Understanding these examples can help to better understand how to implement this into a classroom. To start off it’s important to know what it means to have a variety of toys for different levels of development. If one were to have the children do a puzzle in class, then there would be a variety of different puzzles for different levels of development. There would be large puzzles with a few pieces and then smaller puzzles with more pieces. The toys would also have a variety of ways for the children to practice their pincer and palmer grasp. The toys would allow the children to explore how they work and how to use them. A toy such as blocks is a great way to help children explore. Friedrich Froebel, the father of kindergarten, had gifts in order to help children achieve their need for play. These gifts were blocks and they allowed children to be able to build and create. Blocks help children to problem solve and discover how things work. Another great way to implement how to provide a chance for children to explore at a developmentally appropriate level is through art. When doing art activities, it’s key to provide a variety of ways for the children to create and then to let them create. An example of this would be to have a variety of paint brushes and then letting the children to create what they would like to create. When providing books for the classroom, it’s also important to provide a variety of levels and interest for the children. Overall, with each of these examples it’s important to note how important it is to always keep the child in mind. Whereas in a developmentally inappropriate classroom it’s focused on the final product. When art projects are carried out, there is a final product desired. This would be like if all students needed to color a tree and it had to be done with certain colors. While you want