Rosalinda Mintre/1213012013

Developmentally Appropriate Physical Environments

I. What are preschoolers like?
a. Preschoolers are physically active creatures
b. Preschoolers gradually depend less on attentions and constant assistance from adults,
although they are still bound to them by affection, and thus a desire to please and be like
them. children in these years struggle with egocentric perspectives against dictates of
limits for group behavior.
c. Preschoolers are searching for friends and learning lessons about how one behaves as a
friend
d. Talk is the stuff of preschool learning about the world, self, and others.
e. Preschool children play
II. What do preschoolers need?
a. An environment that can support all that active energy and challenge with experiences
that introduce ever more of the world
b. A sense that he or she can do, can make, has good ideas
c. Play as the appropriate medium for learning by preoperational children.
d. Dimensions of environments: Softness/ hardness (soft: finger paints, clay, etc; hard: tiled
floors, asphalt, etc.); open/ closed (open: sand, blocks, collage, other art materials; closed:
puzzles, and various Montessori materials); simple/ complex (simple: tricycle, swing;
complex: adding shovels to a sandpile, rolling pins to lumps of playdough); intrusion/
seclusion; high mobility/ low mobility (high: running, climbing, tricycle riding; low:
storytime, working puzzles, other fine motor experiences); risk/ safety (although children
need to be protected from obvious dangers and taught safe practices, the environment
must not overlook important opportunities for risk taking); large group/ individual (large:
a story at group time; individual: read to one to one)
III. Environment for initiative:
a. Encouraging child choice of play opportunities in clearly defined and labeled activity
centers
b. Displaying materials that children may get for themselves
c. Allowing children opportunities to display their work in the classroom
d. Offering open-ended materials that encourage creativity and use at varying levels of
individual ability
e. Establishing systems that help children make conscious choices for play
f. Providing opportunities for independence and responsible participation in the classroom
IV. Outdoor Play:
a. Arrange the classroom to suggest that active play is the main vehicle for learning
b. Design the classroom with interest centers arranged to protect play and screen out
distractions
c. Arrange materials to invite active participation
d. Plan area size to facilitate small-group interactive play, as well as spaces for secluded
play
e. Provide long time blocks for play
f. Function as facilitators of play
g. Plan outdoor play areas and materials as carefully as indoor play areas
V. Environment for Self-Control:
a. Plan physical environments that prevent problems caused by boredom, frustration, over-
crowding, and fatigue
b. Plan physical environments that clearly convey positive expectations for appropriate
behavior
c. Use posters and other visual clues to remind children of appropriate classroom behavior
d. Provide private spaces for withdrawal
e. Use classroom materials that demonstrate respect for individual rights and differences
f. Offer materials for vigorous use as outlets for expressing emotion
g. Model opportunities for children to meet for problem solving
VI. Things not seen in a DAP environment for preschoolers:
Physical arrangements that suggest direct teacher instruction; a schedule dominated by
teacher lesson time; worksheets, ditto sheets, flashcards, and other abstract materials; and a
time-out chair