The document discusses developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) in early childhood education. It provides 12 principles of DAP, which emphasize that children learn through active experiences; development occurs through interactions between maturation and the environment; and optimal learning happens when education is tailored to children's developmental levels. The document also provides examples of how to design different centers and learning activities that apply DAP principles, focusing on literacy, fine motor skills, science, math and other domains of learning.

1. Got DAP?
Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Traci Daniel
EC 100
May 11, 2012

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

3. • 2. Development occurs in a relatively
orderly sequence, with later abilities,
skills, and knowledge building on those
already acquired.
http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

4. • 3. Development proceeds at varying rates
from child to child as well as unevenly
within different areas of each child's
functioning.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

5. • 4. Early experiences have both cumulative
and delayed effects on individual
children's development; optimal periods
exist for certain types of development
and learning.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

6. • 5. Development proceeds in predictable
directions toward greater complexity,
organization, and internalization.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

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

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

9. • 8. Development and learning result from
interaction of biological maturation and
the environment, which includes both the
physical and social worlds that children
live in.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

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

11. • 10. Development advances when children
have opportunities to practice newly
acquired skills as well as when they
experience a challenge just beyond the
level of their present mastery.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

12. • 11. Children demonstrate different modes
of knowing and learning and different
ways of representing what they know.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

13. • 12. Children develop and learn best in the
context of a community where they are
safe and valued, their physical needs are
met, and they feel psychologically secure.
– http://www.naeyc.org/about/positions/dap3.asp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

30. A quick DAP review. . .
• What is it?
• Why use it?
• Where should we use it?
• How do we use it?
• Who? It’s all up to you! When?
ALWAYS!