Appropriate for courses in Early Childhood Curriculum. Ages birth to 5. This comprehensive guide provides information on planning programs with a play-based, developmental curriculum for children from birth to five years of age and covers basic principles and current research in early childhood curricula. The text is unique in that it discusses the creative play model for use with children from infancy through preschool by presenting an integrated, individualized curricular approach that helps teachers to be sensitive to and to plan for young children with a variety of developmental and cultural backgrounds. Includes adaptations for young children with special needs in the Activity pages which are designed to quickly locate suggested activities, by domain. To enhance the book's focus on observation in curriculum planning, the unique Developmental Checklist pages are perforated for student use when observing or working with young children.