Educating Young Children Volume 1 – Spring 2025 | Page 55

self-regulation, language, cognitive, and social competencies for the children. This approach requires teachers to interact closely with infants and toddlers to inform meaningful and developmentally appropriate curriculum planning and implementation. As stated in Lisa Murphy on Play: The Foundation of Children’ s Learning,“ The children are the curriculum. Objective and detailed observation of the children’ s desires, activity choices, interests, passions, and challenges will provide educators with all the curriculum they will ever need.”

Guadalupe Rivas Jer, MA, works as a California state preschool project specialist for the San Mateo County Office of Education.

Photographs: pp. 50, 55 © NAEYC; p. 52 courtesy of the author Copyright © 2025 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See permissions and reprints online at NAEYC. org / resources / permissions.