7 Popular Early Learning Approaches (and Why Play Matters Across All of Them)
Summary of Insights
Choosing an early learning approach shapes how children experience learning, how teachers implement instruction, and how classrooms function day to day. While early learning approaches differ in philosophy and practice, the way play is supported through curriculum is a key indicator of how well an approach is implemented.
- Early learning programs use a range of approaches, each with different beliefs about how children learn and the role of the teacher.
- Curriculum plays a critical role in translating an approach into daily practice and supporting consistent, high-quality implementation.
- Purposeful, engaging play is a powerful context for learning across developmental domains.
Seven Popular Approaches to Early Learning
When choosing an early learning approach for a preschool or pre-K program, leaders and educators are making decisions that shape far more than classroom activities or monthly topics. The approach they choose reflects a set of beliefs about how children learn, the role of the teacher, and how learning experiences are designed.
Early learning approaches vary widely in their philosophies and priorities. Some emphasize inquiry and child-led exploration, while others focus more heavily on adult-directed instruction or the systematic development of discrete skills. Even when using the same approach, the way learning looks in practice can differ depending on the curriculum a program uses to bring that approach to life.
When reviewing early learning approaches, it can be helpful to understand how each frames children’s learning, the teacher’s role, and family involvement. The chart below offers an overview of the seven most prominent approaches in early learning.
| Approach | Philosophy | Key Features | Teacher’s Role | Family Involvement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project-Based | Children learn best through in-depth, hands-on exploration of real-world topics | Long-term projects, collaboration, child-led, build on children’s experiences | Teachers help structure children’s questions and provide opportunities for research, investigation, and hands-on exploration | Families may contribute expertise, materials, or community connections |
| Emergent | Curriculum emerges from children’s interests, experiences, and questions | Flexible plans, observation-driven activities, child-led topics | Teachers are strong observers who learn alongside the children to adapt the curriculum | Families’ cultures, stories, and experiences shape curriculum choices |
| Inquiry-Based | Children construct understanding through questioning and investigation | Questioning cycles, exploration, reflection, evidence-gathering | Teachers prompt to guide children’s thinking, pose questions, and support discovery | Families help extend inquiry at home and share knowledge and resources |
| Thematic | Learning is organized around central themes that connect concepts, often superficially across content areas | Unit-based planning, integrated activities, repetition of concepts across contexts | Teachers plan and organize activities around a central theme | Families may share experiences, artifacts, or cultural connections related to themes |
| Parent Co-Op | Education is a shared partnership between educators and families | Parents assist in classrooms, shared decision-making, community-focused environment | Teacher is mentor and coordinator; parents act as helpers and partners | Families volunteer, govern, and participate regularly in the day-to-day events of the school |
| Nature-Based | Children learn through direct interaction with the natural environment | Outdoor classrooms, seasonal exploration, environmental stewardship, sensory and physical play | Teachers design learning experiences in nature, monitor safety, and co-explore with children | Families support outdoor learning values, participate in excursions, and encourage nature experiences beyond school |
| Skills-Based | Children develop through mastery of discrete academic and developmental skills | Structured lessons, benchmarks, assessments, direct instruction, sequential curriculum | Teachers lead most experiences and highly direct the daily activities | Limited family involvement |
Which Early Learning Approach Is Best?
After reviewing different early learning approaches, many leaders and educators naturally ask which one is best. The answer depends on a program’s goals, values and community and the needs of the children it serves. No single approach is universally right for every setting. Each approach brings its own strengths, values, and requirements. It is also important to keep in mind that many of these approaches work well together, particularly project-based learning.
Project-based learning excels at guiding children’s learning through inquiry-based investigations that are emergent and encourage children to take the lead in their own learning. Depending on the setting and structure of the school community, project-based learning can be used in nature-based programs and parent co-ops. The flexibility of the project-based approach allows program leaders to pull in the key features they value to drive learning through hands-on experiences that are meaningful to children and bolster their growth in all areas of development and learning.
From Approach to Curriculum
Once you have chosen an approach that works best for your program, you can choose a curriculum that implements that approach to offer structure and support for teachers beyond just the daily experience and activities. A strong curriculum provides balanced, interconnected activities that build on what children know throughout the year and informs how classrooms are organized, how daily schedules are planned, and how teachers engage with children and families to create strong and dynamic school communities. This type of robust curriculum ensures continuity between classrooms, increases teacher confidence, and creates better outcomes for children.
Here are some key features to look for in a curriculum.
- Children learn through play.
- There is a balance of child-and teacher-led experiences.
- There is guidance for setting up and maintaining the learning environment.
- Teachers can adapt and individualize activities to meet children’s needs and connect to the school community and cultures.
- There are resources to share with families and guidance for building home-school connections and family involvement.
Why Is Play a Key Feature in Choosing a Curriculum?
Purposeful, engaging play is an important vehicle for children’s development and learning. Through play, children develop skills in the areas of social–emotional, language, cognitive, and physical development. They engage in meaningful conversations, learn to solve problems and control their behavior and feelings, explore social roles, and move their bodies in new and challenging ways.
Play also provides a powerful and dynamic context for foundational learning in the content areas. While playing, children learn about themselves, other people, and the world around them; explore mathematical ideas; construct literacy understandings; and develop understandings about science and technology. Additionally, as they play, children often use the arts to express themselves and what they learn.
Play offers children opportunities to
- make choices;
- solve problems;
- interact with one another and adults;
- pursue their interests;
- experience learning as fun and exciting;
- experience themselves as capable, competent, and successful learners; and
- engage in meaningful, child-led activities that help them build language and literacy skills, discover mathematical relationships, explore science and technology concepts, learn about social studies, and engage in creative expression.
One Curriculum, Multiple Approaches
The Creative Curriculum supports deep, meaningful learning through a project-based approach in which children investigate familiar topics in depth. At the same time, the curriculum also incorporates features of emergent and inquiry-based approaches by supporting a combination of playful experiences, discussions, art activities, read-alouds, and hands-on investigations that encourage children to discover the answers to their questions. This creates a well-balanced curriculum that is flexible enough to empower teachers to individualize each investigation to children’s interests while being incredibly supportive and rigorous to support every child’s ability to learn and develop new skills.
About the Author
The Creative Curriculum for Preschool supports whole-child, play-based, project-driven learning in every classroom.
Frequently Asked Questions
An early learning approach reflects a philosophy about how children learn, such as project-based, inquiry-based, or emergent learning. A curriculum provides the structure, guidance, and resources that help teachers implement an approach consistently and effectively across classrooms and over time.
Learning through play is not a single approach, it is a way children learn that appears across many high-quality early learning philosophies. Effective approaches intentionally use play as a vehicle for learning, rather than treating it as separate from instruction.
Research shows that play supports learning and development across all domains, including social–emotional, physical, language, cognitive, literacy, mathematics, science, technology, social studies, and the arts. Through play, children actively engage with ideas, practice self-regulation, collaborate with peers, and build foundational academic skills in meaningful contexts.
While structure and skill development are important, approaches that rely heavily on direct instruction or isolated skill practice can limit opportunities for exploration, creativity, and deeper learning.
The best approach aligns with a program’s values, community, and goals for children. Leaders should consider how an approach values children’s learning, empowers teachers, engages families, and uses play intentionally to support learning.
Yes. Some curricula, like The Creative Curriculum, are designed to be flexible and align with multiple approaches by incorporating project-based learning, inquiry, emergent planning, and intentional play. These curricula provide structure while allowing teachers to adapt learning experiences to children’s interests and needs.
Leaders should look for a curriculum that supports purposeful play, balances child- and teacher-led experiences, provides guidance for learning environments, allows for individualization, and includes resources for engaging families and supporting teachers’ professional growth.
