Educating Young Children Volume 1 – Spring 2025 | Page 51

I work at a campus-based center that provides children with an emergent, child-centered, play-based curriculum to support their natural curiosity and exploration within a safe, supportive, and nurturing environment. My colleagues and I thoughtfully plan play spaces and experiences that support curricular goals based on infants’ and toddlers’ play interests and talents“ through both pre-planned, teacher-directed, intentional activities, and child-initiated, emerging play activities,” as Minsun Shin and Thomas Partyka write in“ Empowering Infants Through Responsive and Intentional Play Activities.” This article reflects the integration of developmentally appropriate materials and opportunities for infant exploration and how a curriculum is influenced by educators’ planning and in-the-moment decision making.

At almost 1 year of age, Andy stands on his own but is not walking yet. I notice that he is starting to throw toys and other objects and watch as they land on the floor. Andy will throw objects from the top of the infant loft and roll them down the loft ramp. When he is standing, he will pick up an object and raise his arm to throw it, and sometimes the object will land on a peer. I want to provide Andy with additional, safer ways to explore cause-and-effect relationships.

The dramatic play / block area in the infant classroom has a long see-through plastic tube fastened to the wall so that it is elevated at one end to make an incline( see the photo on the next page). We put the tube in this fixed position so that children can put materials inside it and see what happens: Which ones fit in the tube? Which ones don’ t fit? In which end of the tube should you try to put an object if you want it to move through the tube? Which objects move through the tube? Which objects don’ t? Some objects slide, some objects roll. Some objects need a push, some objects don’ t.

I want to encourage Andy to roll wooden cars inside and down the tube to support his understanding of cause and effect and to give Andy an opportunity to continue to build his trust in me by interacting with him one-on-one. I place a car inside the tube, and