A well-thought-out curriculum lays the foundation for a high-quality childcare program. The curriculum offers the framework for what children will learn and experience and how teachers will create the opportunities to achieve the desired learning outcomes.
The short answer: Choosing a childcare curriculum comes down to five criteria. A high-quality curriculum covers early learning concepts and pre-skills across every developmental domain, is evidence-based and aligned to your state’s early learning standards, builds in regular observation and assessment, stays flexible enough to follow children’s interests, and reflects developmentally appropriate practice for the specific ages and cultures in your program. Using these five criteria as a scorecard lets you compare a purchased curriculum and a curriculum you design yourself on the same terms.
The curriculum you choose is a critical decision for your program as it reflects what you believe children need and deserve as foundational knowledge and how children learn best. Your chosen curriculum will ultimately inform and guide teachers on your expectations and vision for the children’s educational experience at your childcare program.
In this article, we’ll discuss what a childcare curriculum is, how the major curriculum approaches differ, the five hallmarks of a high-quality curriculum, a step-by-step process for choosing one, and planning templates to guide your ideal curriculum plan.
On this page
- What is a daycare curriculum?
- Types of curriculum for daycare centers
- Childcare curriculum approaches compared
- Hallmarks of a high-quality childcare curriculum
- The five-criteria scorecard
- How to choose a childcare curriculum in five steps
- Home daycare curriculum considerations
- Childcare curriculum planning templates
- Frequently asked questions
What is a daycare curriculum?
A daycare curriculum is a detailed plan that assists teachers in organizing and delivering educational activities for children. Its purpose is to outline and address the children's developmental needs and create an engaging and stimulating environment for them. A structured curriculum makes it simpler for teachers to interact with children and provide practical learning experiences.
Although the curriculum may differ between daycare centers, it generally includes various activities encouraging young children's social-emotional, physical, language, and cognitive development.
A curriculum also helps determine the materials and equipment children will use to explore and learn various concepts. It acts as a shared language for educators and families to discuss and understand a child's development, fostering effective communication and collaboration between home and childcare center.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) defines curriculum as the set of plans that outline the learning experiences for children to acquire knowledge, skills, abilities, and understanding. NAEYC’s position statements also outline the essential elements of a good childcare curriculum and specific indicators for effectiveness.
Some desired elements for lessons and activities:
- Thoughtfully planned
- Challenging and engaging
- Developmentally appropriate
- Culturally and linguistically responsive
Examples of indicators of effectiveness:
- Children are active and engaged
- Goals are clear and shared by all
- Curriculum is evidence-based
- Valued content is learned through investigation, play, and focused, intentional teaching
- Curriculum builds on prior learning and experiences
According to First Things First, 90% of a child’s brain development happens in the first five years of life, which makes early education a crucial window. As a care provider, you need to fill the day with lessons and activities that are engaging, age-appropriate, sequenced, and that facilitate progress towards meeting milestones across all developmental domains.
Types of curriculum for daycare centers
Early education curriculum varies widely based on the type of childcare program and the age of children (i.e., center-based or home-based programs, infant and toddler programs, or preschool-aged programs). The curriculum a childcare program chooses may also be aligned or “inspired” by an early education philosophy such as Montessori, Reggio Emilia, or Waldorf to name a few. Childcare programs may purchase a predesigned curriculum, while others may design curriculum inspired by one or an eclectic mix of educational philosophies.
Early childhood educators often turn to curriculum kits as a comprehensive resource to streamline planning and ensure that their teaching aligns with educational standards and developmental goals. Brightwheel's Experience Curriculum stands out in this context as an innovative early learning program that delivers monthly kits filled with hands-on activities, teaching materials, and detailed lesson plans.
Emergent curriculum has been receiving a lot of attention and accolades as a highly favored approach to delivering high-quality educational experiences to children. With this approach, teachers design relevant and meaningful learning experiences that are inspired by children’s interests and needs. This is a more flexible, child-centered curriculum with topics sourced organically from children that takes every child into consideration when planning.
In contrast, more traditional curriculum methods are teacher-directed with lessons typically organized around broad thematic areas such as seasons or concepts like numbers or letters. These varying topics are usually chosen by teachers and draw some criticism, as the approach assumes that all children will be interested in the chosen theme.
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Childcare curriculum approaches compared
The approaches below differ mainly in who decides what gets studied and how tightly the day is planned. Use this table to shortlist the approaches that fit your teachers and your families before you evaluate specific products.
| Approach | Who drives the learning | What a typical day looks like | Best fit for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montessori | The child chooses the work; the teacher prepares the environment and guides | Long uninterrupted work periods with self-correcting hands-on materials, usually in mixed-age classrooms | Programs that want independence, order, and mixed-age grouping |
| Reggio Emilia | Children and teachers together, with children’s interests sparking the work | Open-ended projects that run for weeks, visible documentation of learning, and an environment treated as a “third teacher” | Programs with strong family relationships that can document learning over time |
| Waldorf | The teacher sets a predictable rhythm; imaginative play leads the learning | Consistent daily and seasonal rhythms with storytelling, singing, handwork, natural materials, and outdoor time | Programs that want a slow, consistent rhythm and few or no screens |
| Emergent | Children’s interests, observed and interpreted by teachers | Next week’s activities are planned from what teachers noticed this week, so topics shift with the group | Experienced teams comfortable planning close to real time |
| Traditional or thematic | The teacher directs the plan | Lessons organized around set themes such as seasons, letters, or numbers on a fixed calendar | Newer teams that need a predictable plan and shared structure |
Hallmarks of a high-quality childcare curriculum
Now that we have established how vastly unique and different curriculum design for young children can be and the many sources of inspiration and influencing factors (i.e., such as program type and age range), let’s dive into the traits of a high-quality curriculum.
1. Curriculum includes early learning concepts and pre-skills
The learning that takes place before kindergarten is crucial to creating school readiness. Children often need to meet specific learning milestones and have certain skills before successfully transitioning to school.
- Early literacy: Beginning in infancy, children are exposed to books, spoken language, songs, and repetitive rhymes in a print-rich environment. As they get older, they work towards learning letters and sounds, and eventually writing.
- Early math: From infancy, children are also offered opportunities to interact with different shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns to build number awareness, especially through toys and books. Toddlers and older children will begin to understand number sense and be able to categorize items.
- Early science: Infant learning is rooted in sensory exploration, as they begin to make sense of the world through experimenting with how to make things happen. As they get older, they begin to explore scientific thinking and engineering.
- Social-emotional skills: From birth, infants become increasingly aware of self and others. Through responsive care, infants learn about relationships, having their needs met, safety, and respect. As they grow, this foundation supports their self-esteem and self-regulation skills, and their ability to collaborate, build relationships, and resolve conflicts.
- Arts, music, and movement: Children of all ages benefit from opportunities to experience and explore visual arts, music, dance, and dramatic play. Exploring music and movement in infancy supports development in all domains as well as promotes creative expression in older children.
2. Curriculum is evidence-based
You’ll want a curriculum that aligns with an evidence-based set of standards, whether this is provided by your state or another organization. Each U.S. state provides early learning frameworks that outline a developmental continuum of desired skills from infancy through kindergarten entry. Most states have both an infant/toddler and preschool framework to align with. Head Start also has a highly respected and utilized learning outcomes framework that aligns with child development research and teacher best practices.
If you are purchasing packaged curriculum, be sure to find out how the lessons and materials were developed, and whether they align with an early learning framework and evidence-based practices. Brightwheel's Experience Curriculum is a complete, easy-to-use curriculum system with digital lessons in brightwheel and hands-on learning materials mailed to you. The curriculum incorporates 35 research-based skills into playful games and discovery projects and is aligned with all 50 states' early learning standards and NAEYC.
3. Curriculum includes opportunities for observations and assessments
Lessons and activities are only half of the core of your childcare curriculum. As you move through your planned activities, you’ll need to record observations and administer assessments to track progress towards mastering skills. In California, for example, the state has developed a framework called the Desired Results system, more commonly referred to as DRDP, which refers to the assessment piece of the framework, the Desired Results Developmental Profile. A good childcare curriculum provides ample opportunities to closely observe and document development that is directly tied to the day-to-day happenings at your program.
4. Curriculum is flexible
A quality curriculum allows for flexibility informed by a child's progress and interests. Based on your observations and assessments, you will make ongoing adjustments to your daily plans. As a teacher, even with the best-laid plans, it is essential to remain flexible to ensure that when your children are suddenly excited by something new, you are able and willing to shift focus to build on their interests. When teachers are responsive to children’s interests, the learning opportunities become relevant and engaging, which may promote better learning outcomes.
Emergent curriculum offers a great deal of teaching flexibility. One educational philosophy, the Reggio Emilia approach, is well-known for embracing an emergent curriculum where relationships take center stage and spark learning opportunities. The Reggio Emilia approach acknowledges the importance of social learning and the significance of the children’s relationships with peers, their families and teachers, and the classroom environment, also referred to as the “third teacher”. Teachers build the curriculum in response to the observations of the children’s interests, curiosities, and existing knowledge.
5. Curriculum incorporates developmentally appropriate practices (DAP)
The developmentally appropriate practice concept is rooted in a deep knowledge of child development and prioritizes how a child's unique personal experiences and cultural identities may affect their development and understanding of concepts. For optimal child development at your center, it is important that the curriculum considers each child's individual needs and strengths, and their social and cultural contexts.
This practice is also informed by teachers' individual relationships with children and their families. As teachers develop deep relationships with families, they can get to know each child's strengths, needs, and interests, as well as their cultural identity and values. This will help educators create culturally responsive learning experiences to promote development across all domains.
The five-criteria scorecard
Score every curriculum you are considering, including one you design yourself, against the same five criteria. The third column gives you the question to put directly to a publisher or sales rep.
| Criterion | What to look for | Question to ask the publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Early learning concepts and pre-skills | Coverage of early literacy, early math, early science, social-emotional skills, and arts, music, and movement for every age you serve | Which developmental domains and age bands does this cover, and what is missing for infants and toddlers? |
| Evidence-based | A documented skill progression mapped to your state’s early learning standards or the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework | How were these lessons developed, and which framework and research is the skill sequence aligned to? |
| Observation and assessment | Built-in observation prompts and assessment tools tied to the activities teachers are already running | What assessment tools are included, and can they feed the reporting my state or funder requires? |
| Flexibility | Room to reorder, extend, or swap activities when children’s interests shift | Can teachers change the order or substitute activities without breaking the skill sequence? |
| Developmentally appropriate practice | Guidance for adapting activities to individual needs and to the cultures and languages of your families | What adaptations are provided for multilingual learners and for children with different developmental needs? |
How to choose a childcare curriculum in five steps
Once you know what a high-quality curriculum looks like, the selection itself is a short, repeatable process.
- Define your philosophy and age groups. Write down what you believe about how children learn and list every age band you serve, because a curriculum that is excellent for preschoolers may have thin infant and toddler content.
- Check your state and funder requirements. Confirm what your licensing agency requires in a written curriculum, and add any additional requirements from Head Start, a state pre-K contract, or your accreditor before you shortlist options.
- Score each option against the five criteria. Use the scorecard above so a purchased curriculum and a curriculum you design yourself are compared on the same terms.
- Examine the observation and assessment tools. Look at the actual forms and reports a teacher would complete, and check that they produce the documentation you need to share with families and funders.
- Pilot with your teachers before you commit. Run two to four weeks in one classroom, then gather teacher feedback on prep time, materials, and how children responded before rolling the curriculum out program-wide.
Home daycare curriculum considerations
Center-based and home-based childcare programs may offer different benefits to children and their families with regards to services and learning environment. However, the opportunities for children to learn and develop essential skills remain the same. Home-based childcare programs can leverage the inherent embedded curriculum opportunities inspired by the natural rhythms of life that occur throughout the day in a home such as preparing meals, household chores, and caretaking for younger children.
If you are a home daycare provider developing your own curriculum, here are some elements that can inform your curriculum design in addition to early learning concepts and developmental domains:
- Age of the children: Mixed-age groups can stimulate development across all domains through observation of peers and mentorship. However, to create a developmentally appropriate curriculum, you will need to consider the individual needs of each child and their stage of development.
- Daily routine: Your daily routine with the children and your home environment offers many opportunities for building a curriculum from the natural rhythms of life. For example, you can simply involve your older children in preparing a meal and discuss early math and science concepts.
- Children’s family life: Each child’s family life offers rich opportunities for emergent curriculum ideas that are relevant and meaningful to the children. Connect with families about what experiences they are having at home to draw inspiration for activities and concepts to explore.
Whether you’re running an in-home daycare program or you’re a preschool teacher at a multi-location childcare business, sharing lesson plans with families is a great way to partner together to build a strong home-to-school connection. Download our free curriculum scope and sequence template below to organize your planning and invite more family participation at your program.
Curriculum Scope and Sequence Template
A free template to organize your curriculum planning.
Childcare curriculum planning templates
Once you have chosen your ideal curriculum plan, stay organized and plan your activities and learning objectives with a curriculum planning template.
Writing weekly or daily plans allows you to create intentional learning experiences and document the learning objectives and outcomes as well as reflect and share your observations and the children’s progress with families and colleagues.
If you're looking for a more structured starting point, this free curriculum scope and sequence template can be downloaded and adapted for your program. It helps map out learning goals month by month, giving every teacher on your team the same framework to plan from and giving families a clear, consistent view of what their child is learning throughout the year. To understand the concepts behind this template in more depth, see A Guide to Scope and Sequence for Your Preschool Curriculum and Mapping Out the Entire Year Using a Preschool Curriculum Map, which explain how to structure what you teach and in what order.
For age-specific guidance and templates, see Lesson Plans for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers, which covers how to tailor daily and weekly plans to each age group's developmental needs. Before implementing a new template, get feedback from your staff to make sure it's functional and supportive of their planning.
Frequently asked questions
What are the hallmarks of a high-quality childcare curriculum?
A high-quality childcare curriculum includes early learning concepts and pre-skills, is evidence-based, includes opportunities for observation and assessment, remains flexible to children's interests, and incorporates developmentally appropriate practices.
What is the difference between emergent curriculum and traditional curriculum?
Emergent curriculum is child-centered, with teachers designing learning experiences based on children's interests and needs. Traditional curriculum is more teacher-directed, typically organized around broad thematic areas like seasons or concepts such as numbers and letters.
How is curriculum different for home-based daycare?
Home-based daycare curriculum can draw on the natural rhythms of daily life, like meal preparation and household routines, but should still account for each child's age, developmental stage, and family context, especially when caring for mixed-age groups.
What is the difference between a curriculum and a lesson plan?
A curriculum is the overall plan for what children will learn across a year and why, including learning goals, sequence, and assessment. A lesson plan is the day-to-day or week-to-week document that puts one part of that curriculum into practice through specific activities, materials, and routines.
How can you tell if a childcare curriculum is evidence-based?
Ask the publisher how the lessons and materials were developed, which early learning framework they align to, and what research the skill progression is based on. An evidence-based curriculum can name the state early learning standards or the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework it maps to, and can show how its content builds skills in sequence.
Do licensed childcare programs have to use a specific curriculum?
Curriculum requirements vary by state and by program type. Many states require licensed programs to follow a written curriculum or a plan of daily activities aligned to the state's early learning standards without naming a specific published curriculum, and programs funded through Head Start or a state pre-K program often have additional requirements. Check your state licensing agency and your funder's rules before selecting a curriculum.
The best childcare curriculum serves you, children, and families
Your childcare program will only be as good as the curriculum that you put in place. Whether you are just getting started or are looking to update your center’s offerings, using these five criteria as you plan activities and incorporate resources will ensure you are offering your families the level of quality that they deserve.
