Developmental Education for Young Children: Basic Development

For the practical implementation of Developmental Education, a play-based curriculum has been developed for 3–7 year-old children, called Basisontwikkeling. Its intention is to offer teachers information and examples of educational practices and tools by which they can create meaningful and developmentally appropriate practices. The current chapter introduces the notion of “broad development” and suggests core activities that may promote young children’s broad development (object play and role play, constructive play, conversations, literacy and mathematical activities). Specific teaching strategies aim to get children meaningfully engaged in socio-cultural activities, and to stimulate play development and learning experiences in the perspective of broad development. The strategies include, for instance, guidelines for thematic settings in interaction with the children, as well as didactic impulses when participating in joint activities. This chapter illustrates the Developmental Education approach with examples of play as the leading activity (object play and role play).