At the time of this review, there are no available published research studies on Beautiful Beginnings: A Developmental Curriculum for Infants and Toddlers (Beautiful Beginnings). Rigorous research is needed in order to establish evidence of positive effects of Beautiful Beginnings on children's learning outcomes.

Responsive Relationships and Interactions: The curriculum consistently promotes responsive relationships and interactions with infants and toddlers, which research has shown are foundational to children's development in all domains. The curriculum's "Social Experiences" provide strategies for building secure, trusting relationships with children (e.g., engaging in back-and-forth interactions, making eye contact, sharing physical affection). In addition, they promote sensitive, responsive caregiving (e.g., guidance on how to appropriately respond to children's cues and requests). Nearly all of the curriculum's learning experiences offer examples of how to engage children in joint attention (e.g., naming an object that the teacher and the child are looking at; responding when a child points at something). Finally, the curriculum encourages teachers to talk with children throughout the day, acknowledge children's responses (e.g., movement, crying, vocalizations), and respond to children's communication (e.g., pointing, babbling, talking).

Daily Routines as Opportunities for Learning: Beautiful Beginnings provides some guidance on daily routines and schedules. The "Self-Help Experiences" offer several examples of how teachers can engage children in the daily caregiving routines of eating, diapering, toileting, dressing, washing hands, and preparing for naptime. One "Self-Help Experience" for older toddlers suggests having consistent daily routines, helping children understand the routines, and giving cues prior to next steps in routines. However, the curriculum lacks any further guidance on how to establish individualized schedules for infants or developmentally appropriate schedules for toddlers.

Play and Exploration: The curriculum offers learning experiences that encourage infants' and toddlers' play and active exploration, which research suggests provide rich contexts for learning in all domains. Many of the "Gross Motor Experiences" provide opportunities for children to engage in active physical play (e.g., crawling up and down stairs, walking on a balance beam, playing on riding toys). In addition, many of the "Discovery Experiences" provide open-ended learning experiences that promote children's curiosity, exploration, and creativity (e.g., playing with water, exploring a texture box, finger painting). Finally, the curriculum approach advises teachers to observe children and select "Experiences" that build on their interests. However, the curriculum lacks comprehensive guidance on how to create indoor and outdoor environments that promote active physical play.

Language-Rich Environment and Interactions: Beautiful Beginnings consistently offers research-based teaching practices to promote language-rich environments and interactions. In particular, the "Communication Experiences" provide guidance on how to engage in varied types of talk with infants and toddlers throughout the day (e.g., talking slowly with animation, describing objects and actions, asking open-ended questions, expanding the child's language). In addition, the curriculum offers strategies to build infants' and toddlers' vocabulary (e.g., labeling familiar objects, introducing words for new objects, using action words). Finally, it features several opportunities to support children's early literacy skills, such as reading books, playing with puppets, singing, reciting nursery rhymes, and scribbling and drawing activities.

Promoting Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Self-Regulation: The curriculum consistently promotes research-based teaching practices to support children's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive self-regulation. In particular, the "Social Experiences" offer teaching practices to help infants and toddlers begin to regulate their emotions (e.g., encouraging expression of emotions, labeling and validating emotions, identifying feelings of others). Many of the "Social Experiences" and "Self-Help Experiences" provide strategies to support children's behavioral regulation (e.g., giving the child choices, supporting turn-taking with peers, setting clear expectations for behaviors). Finally, the curriculum provides a range of strategies to facilitate children's cognitive self-regulation (e.g., supporting planning and flexibility in thinking during pretend play, encouraging children to persist and complete tasks).

Facilitating Cognitive Development: The curriculum consistently promotes research-based teaching practices that facilitate the cognitive development of infants and toddlers. Nearly all of the curriculum's "Experiences" include prompts that could be used to support cognitive development during play and exploration (e.g., narrating actions, describing objects, modeling actions, expanding language, extending play themes). Similarly, the learning experiences provide examples of how to embed mathematics language and concepts throughout everyday interactions and activities (e.g., talking about quantity, sorting, using shape sorters, nesting, completing puzzles). Finally, some "Experiences" support the development of children's problem-solving skills (e.g., encouraging trial and error, demonstrating how to use tools to solve problems, supporting children to persist during challenging tasks).

Supporting Physical Development: Beautiful Beginnings consistently recommends research-based teaching practices to support the perceptual, motor, and physical development of infants and toddlers. The curriculum's "Experiences" include many, varied opportunities for infants and toddlers to practice fine, gross, and perceptual motor skills. The curriculum features several learning experiences for children to practice fine motor skills (e.g., grasping objects, shaking and banging, developing pincer grasp, scribbling, zipping) and gross motor skills (e.g., pulling up, crawling up and down stairs, throwing, carrying objects while walking). In addition, several "Experiences" support the development of perceptual motor skills (e.g., looking at and tracking objects, mouthing objects, climbing in and out of large boxes, feeling textures, exploring and discussing body motions).

Scope: Beautiful Beginnings clearly identifies eight areas of development: Communication, Gross Motor, Fine Motor, Intellectual, Discovery, Social, Self-Help, and Pretend. The curriculum manual provides several "Experiences" to support each of these areas of development.

Sequence: The curriculum manual provides multiple, related learning opportunities for children to explore and learn concepts and skills in all ELOF domains. The "Experiences" are organized by age (e.g., 0–6 months, 6–12 months, 12–18 months) and around the curriculum's eight areas of development. They can be used to progressively build children's concepts and skills as they move through the developmental progressions in all domains. The curriculum describes the "Experiences" as a menu of ideas that can be selected based on each child's unique development, strengths, needs, and interests, demonstrating that the sequences of learning experiences allow for flexibility.

Alignment with the ELOF: A thorough review of the curriculum manual indicates that Beautiful Beginnings is mostly aligned with the ELOF. The curriculum manual offers learning experiences to fully support children's development and learning in all of the ELOF domains and almost all of the sub-domains. However, the curriculum partially addresses the ELOF sub-domain of Health, Safety, and Nutrition.

Learning Goals: Beautiful Beginnings provides measurable, developmentally appropriate learning goals in the curriculum's eight areas of development. Each "Experience" specifies a "Goal," and the learning experiences support the stated goals. The curriculum suggests selecting "Goals" and "Experiences" based on children's interests, strengths, development, needs, and concerns. However, it lacks explicit guidance on how to modify the learning goals for activities to individualize learning experiences for all children.

Ongoing Observation and Documentation: The curriculum provides a process for ongoing observation and documentation: observing the child; selecting "Experiences" based on the child's interests, strengths, development, needs, and concerns; offering "Experiences;" and documenting the child's responses. In addition, the curriculum includes a "Goals Sheet," which can be used as a tool to support teachers in the ongoing process of observation and documentation. Many "Experiences" include prompts for teachers to observe children's engagement in the activities (e.g., "Watch him carefully to see how he handles the problem." "Make a mental note of the motions she does today so you can introduce others later.").

Standardized and Structured Assessment Instruments: The curriculum describes the importance of using the Ages & Stages Questionnaires® (ASQ®) screening instrument. However, it does not address standardized and structured assessment instruments to assess children's developmental progress.

Communicating with Families: The curriculum does not offer materials or strategies for communicating with families about their children's development or about the curriculum's learning experiences.

Engaging Families: The curriculum provides minimal guidance on how to engage families in children's learning and development. This guidance is limited to including parents in the creation of a portfolio and the completion of the ASQ®. The curriculum lacks any further information on how to engage families in the classroom or how families can extend children's learning at home.

Professional Development: The curriculum publisher does not offer standardized initial training or ongoing professional development opportunities.

Curriculum Materials to Support Implementation: The curriculum provides some materials to support implementation. The manual begins with an overview of the curriculum's approach and components. It also includes guidance on how to implement the curriculum's extensive set of "Experiences." However, the curriculum lacks additional materials to support implementation, such as teaching resources that offer comprehensive guidance on foundational aspects of curriculum implementation (e.g., how to set up the physical environment, establish individualized schedules, engage families) or any training or coaching resources.

• Fidelity Tool: The curriculum does not include a tool to assess fidelity of implementation.

Active Exploration: Beautiful Beginnings provides some opportunities for infants and toddlers to move freely and explore their environments actively. Some "Experiences" encourage movement and open-ended exploration. For example, "Finding Things" encourages teachers to create a "discovery corner" where they set out a new object or toy each week for children to freely explore. In addition, "Pushing and Pulling" invites teachers to provide toddlers with various toys that they can push (e.g., boxes, small chairs, wagons) and pull (e.g., toys with strings attached to them), which provide several opportunities for movement and exploration of how things work. However, other "Experiences" are more teacher-directed, encouraging infants and toddlers to do something very specific and providing limited opportunities for children to engage with the environment in open-ended ways. For example, in one activity, teachers model different types of scribbles and encourage toddlers to imitate the model drawings. In another activity, teachers demonstrate how to use cause-and-effect toys and encourage older infants to do the same actions.

Interactions That Extend Children's Learning: The curriculum provides specific guidance on how teachers can engage in interactions that extend children's learning. The "Experiences" include prompts or suggestions for teachers to label objects, narrate what adults and children are doing, expand children's language, and extend pretend play. For example, an "Experience" for younger infants suggests that teachers describe various textures and what those textures feel like. Another prompts teachers to initiate possible next steps in children's pretend play, while letting the child choose what to do next.

Individualization: The curriculum provides a general approach for individualizing learning experiences for all children. The approach includes observing children; selecting "Experiences" based on children's interests, strengths, development, needs, or concerns; using the "Goals Sheet" to plan for an individual child or group of children; offering "Experiences;" and documenting the children's responses. "Using Beautiful Beginnings with Children with Special Needs" encourages teachers to use a child's functional age to select learning experiences. "Taking Culture into Consideration" instructs teachers to adapt activities as appropriate. However, the curriculum lacks specific guidance embedded throughout the "Experiences" on how to use learning experiences with diverse children, and at times, is suggestive of a deficit approach: "For children at-risk, such as children from very low-income families, one Experience should always be in the area of communication because of the tendency for children to be delayed in this area."

Environment: The curriculum provides minimal guidance on how to design well-organized, engaging indoor and outdoor learning environments. It specifies setting up learning centers that emphasize different areas of development and providing an organized, predictable environment. Some "Gross Motor Experiences" (e.g., "Crawling Up and Down Stairs," "Playing Independently on Riding Toys," "Walking on a Balance Beam") include suggestions for equipment that would promote active physical play. The curriculum lacks guidance on the outdoor environment. Additionally, some "Experiences" suggest equipment that may restrict movement and exploration, such as a bouncer, activity rocker, or high chair.

Learning Materials: Beautiful Beginnings provides several examples of developmentally appropriate learning materials that foster infants' and toddlers' open-ended exploration and inquiry. For example, the "Experiences" specify a range of learning materials, such as nesting toys, blocks, play dough, materials of different textures, and pretend play props. The curriculum reminds teachers to consider books and objects from within children's and families' cultural backgrounds. However, it lacks guidance on how to select learning materials in children's home languages. It also lacks instruction on how to select learning materials that are accessible to children with disabilities, suspected delays, or other special needs.

Schedule and Routines: The curriculum provides specific guidance on how to use caregiving routines as learning opportunities. The "Self-Help Experiences" describe how teachers can engage children while the children are eating, diapering or toileting, dressing, washing hands, and preparing for naptime. However, the curriculum lacks guidance on how to establish a flexible daily schedule centered around developmentally and individually appropriate routines.

Interactions: Beautiful Beginnings includes a brief section on "Taking Culture into Consideration," with very few tips that could be used to build relationships with children and families from diverse cultural backgrounds (e.g., honoring cultural variations, valuing parental choices, respecting cultural differences). Additionally, it does not include guidance on learning how families interact with their child or on how to use this information to engage in culturally responsive interactions.

Learning Experiences: The curriculum includes only two examples of how to provide learning experiences that build on families' cultures. One example describes how gazing in the mirror may not be a valued or appropriate activity in some cultures, and how teachers should make appropriate adaptations. Another example suggests that teachers introduce a wordless book that is in line with a family's tradition of storytelling. Beyond these two examples, the curriculum lacks guidance on how to engage infants and toddlers in learning experiences or caregiving routines that build on families' traditions, cultures, values, and beliefs.

Learning Environment: Beautiful Beginnings offers two suggestions for providing learning materials that reflect diverse cultures. The "Using Materials" section states that materials acquired from other geographic areas lend welcome diversity. In addition, the "Taking Culture into Consideration" section invites teachers to consider books and objects that are within children's and families' cultural backgrounds. However, the curriculum lacks any further guidance on, or examples of how to select and use, learning materials that authentically represent the cultures and ethnicities of children and families in the program.

Linguistic Responsiveness: The curriculum lacks guidance on how to intentionally support the development and learning of infants and toddlers who are dual language learners. It also does not address how to support children who are learning tribal languages.

Teaching Practices and Interventions: Beautiful Beginnings provides minimal guidance on embedding teaching practices or other interventions into learning experiences or daily routines for children with disabilities, suspected delays, or other special needs. It suggests using a child's functional age to select learning experiences, focusing on a child's strengths, coordinating with other specialists, and encouraging a child to use other senses. The curriculum lacks additional principles or specific guidance embedded throughout the "Experiences" on how to intentionally support the development and learning of children with disabilities, suspected delays, or other special needs.

Learning Environment: The curriculum does not address how to ensure that the physical environment and learning materials are accessible to children with disabilities, suspected delays, or other special needs.

Individualization Based on Interests: The curriculum provides guidance on how to plan learning experiences that build on children's interests. It describes a process for selecting "Experiences" based on children's interests as observing the child (including prompts such as "What seems to energize her?" or noticing what fascinates the child) and then choosing "Experiences" that build on children's interests. In addition, some "Experiences" remind teachers to consider and follow children's interests. For example, a book-reading activity encourages teachers to pay careful attention to what a child shows interest in and to build on those interests. In a pretend play activity, teachers are prompted to follow the child's lead.

Individualization Based on Strengths and Needs: Beautiful Beginnings provides general guidance on how to plan learning experiences that are responsive to individual children's strengths and needs. The following process is described for selecting "Experiences" based on children's strengths and needs: observe the child, use the "Overview Goals Charts" to help locate the child's developmental level, choose "Experiences" that build on the child's development, use the "Goals Sheet" to plan the "Experiences," offer "Experiences," and document the child's response. Although the curriculum is organized around age ranges, it lacks specific scaffolding strategies to support children at different developmental levels, as well as guidance on how to tailor learning experiences based on individual children's strengths and needs.