Review

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).

Responsive Relationships and Interactions: The curriculum consistently promotes responsive relationships and interactions, which are foundational to children's social and emotional development and development in all other domains. Tender Care and Early Learning describes how to nurture secure attachment relationships with infants and toddlers, including program policies (e.g., continuity of care, primary caregiving) and specific teaching practices (e.g., sensitivity to non-distress, positive regard, lack of negativity, responsiveness to children's communication). The curriculum emphasizes how to engage in sensitive, responsive caregiving and interactions throughout the day. It suggests observing children, responding supportively to children's needs, following their lead, conversing with children in a give-and-take manner, and commenting on their interests and efforts.

Daily Routines as Opportunities for Learning: The curriculum provides clear guidance on how to use daily caregiving routines as a rich opportunity to support children's development and learning in all domains. Tender Care and Early Learning describes how to establish daily schedules and routines that are predictable as well as flexible and individualized based on children's routines at home, natural biological rhythms, and temperament. In addition, Lesson Plans for a Strong Start provides specific examples of how to support and extend children's learning and development during daily routines of "Bodily Care," "Mealtimes," "Transitions," "Drop-off," and "Pick-up" (e.g., learning about attributes, pattern, change, or sequence; developing self-care skills).

Play and Exploration: The curriculum provides extensive guidance on research-based practices to support toddlers' play and exploration. The curriculum offers specific strategies for teachers to create safe and engaging indoor and outdoor environments that promote children's active play and exploration. The curriculum emphasizes providing ample opportunities for child-initiated play and activities based on children's interests, which research shows relates to children's attention, engagement, initiative, and curiosity. Throughout the curriculum, teachers are repeatedly encouraged to allow children to explore the classroom freely, observe children's interests, engage with children on their level, and plan how to further support their explorations. Finally, the curriculum stresses the importance of providing open-ended learning materials and experiences that promote children's curiosity, exploration, and creativity (e.g., building with different types of blocks, playing with fabric scraps or textured balls, exploring metal things).

Language-Rich Environment and Interactions: The curriculum promotes research-based teaching practices to support infants' and toddlers' language and communication. These practices include using varied types of talk and introducing new and interesting vocabulary words based on children's engagement. For example, Tender Care and Early Learning provides general strategies with vignette examples (e.g., make comments, communicate and converse in a give-and-take manner, sing, read). Lesson Plans for a Strong Start integrates suggestions for varied types of talk and vocabulary within learning experiences (e.g., providing names for objects children are touching and using descriptive words such as hard, rough, or fuzzy). Tender Care and Early Learning describes the importance of reading to children and how to select appropriate books for infants and toddlers. Lesson Plans for a Strong Start includes interaction strategies for reading with infants and toddlers (e.g., keeping story groups small, using props from time to time), as well as examples of how to integrate book reading into "Group Times with Materials," "Outside Time," and "Mealtime."

Promoting Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Self-Regulation: The curriculum includes research-based practices to support infants' and toddlers' emotional, behavioral, and cognitive self-regulation. To promote children's emotional and behavioral self-regulation, Tender Care and Early Learning offers guidance on supporting children during social conflicts, providing a soothing physical environment, acknowledging children's feelings and behaviors, and modeling how to cope with feelings. While some of these strategies are integrated throughout Lesson Plans for a Strong Start, others are not. There was also less evidence for other strategies to support children's behavioral regulation, such as redirection of behaviors or providing clear expectations and simple rules for toddlers. The curriculum's lesson plans for toddlers include ongoing scaffolding strategies to support them in developing their executive functioning skills (e.g., acknowledging children's efforts, narrating children's actions and the outcomes of their actions).

Facilitating Cognitive Development: The curriculum promotes some research-based teaching practices to support children's cognition. For example, the curriculum encourages adults to scaffold infants' and toddlers' problem-solving skills by giving children time to try solving their own problems, narrating their actions, acknowledging children's feelings and struggles, and providing assistance as needed. Lesson Plans for a Strong Start provides scaffolding charts for teachers to extend children's learning during play and exploration, such as describing materials, narrating children's actions and explorations, and using open-ended prompts (e.g., "I wonder ...," "What would happen if ..."). Finally, the Lesson Plans for a Strong Start features some learning experiences that focus on introducing toddlers to math language and concepts (e.g., teaching the sign for "more," counting blocks as children play, narrating the sequence of a diaper change). However, there is much less information and emphasis on emergent mathematical thinking in Tender Care and Early Learning or infant Lesson Plans for a Strong Start.

Supporting Physical Development: The curriculum consistently promotes research-based practices to support children's perceptual, motor, and physical development. Lesson Plans for a Strong Start offers many specific learning experiences and scaffolding strategies to support children's gross and fine motor skills (e.g., squeezing squishy bags, grasping and mouthing a shaker, tossing bean bags). In addition, the curriculum emphasizes providing learning environments and experiences to support perceptual understanding and motor development (e.g., providing rich sensory experiences, including various types of surfaces in the physical environment, labeling children's actions). Lastly, the specific suggestions in Lesson Plans for a Strong Start guide teachers to repeat activities as well as to encourage children to practice new skills in different contexts.

Responsive Relationships and Interactions: Frog Street Infant consistently promotes responsive relationships and interactions, which research shows are the foundation for children's Approaches to Learning, Social and Emotional Development, Language and Communication, and Cognition. The curriculum supports teachers in building trusting relationships with infants and engaging in responsive caregiving. For example, many of the Activity Cards provide specific suggestions to make eye contact, provide physical affection, spend time with individual children, and talk with children. It also offers strategies and vignettes to promote sensitive, responsive caregiving. The curriculum provides many opportunities for teachers to initiate joint attention with infants. However, there is minimal guidance for teachers on how to start a back-and-forth exchange based on the child's focus or interest.

Daily Routines as Opportunities for Learning: The curriculum minimally addresses daily caregiving routines, which are a rich opportunity to support infants' development and learning. Welcome to Frog Street Infant emphasizes following children's verbal and non-verbal cues for hunger, rest, or activity, but it lacks guidance on how to establish developmentally appropriate routines for infants. Additionally, there are only a few examples in the entire curriculum on how to extend children's learning during caregiving routines (e.g., talk with children during mealtimes; chants and rhymes during daily routines; tell children what will happen next during transitions). The curriculum does not provide any further guidance on how teachers can extend children's thinking and communication while engaging in caregiving routines, which are a significant portion of the day for infants.

Play and Exploration: The curriculum provides minimal guidance on research-based practices to support infants' play and exploration. Frog Street Infant repeatedly mentions the importance of providing plenty of space for infants to move and practice physical skills. However, it lacks concrete guidance on how to create an indoor and outdoor environment for active physical play and exploration. The Activity Cards offer some opportunities for infants to engage in open-ended exploration (e.g., manipulating play dough, exploring tactile paths), but they also emphasize a fair amount of teacher-directed activities (e.g., showing a child how to drop an object into a small hole and shake it out). As such, the curriculum lacks opportunities for child-initiated play based on children's interests, which research shows contribute to infants' curiosity, creativity, persistence, and engagement.

Language-Rich Environment and Interactions: The curriculum consistently promotes research-based teaching practices to support infants' language and communication, such as using varied types of talk with infants (e.g., using "parent-ese" or child-directed language, modeling full sentences, narrating actions, expanding on what children say) and supporting infants' emergent literacy. For example, the curriculum provides several learning experiences that encourage caregivers to sing songs, say rhymes, and read books with infants. Research demonstrates these actions support infants' emergent literacy skills.

Promoting Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Self-Regulation: The curriculum consistently promotes research-based practices to support infants' emotional and behavioral self-regulation. The curriculum gives guidance on how teachers can use emotional coaching to help infants understand and begin to manage their emotions. Similarly, to facilitate the development of emotional and behavioral self-regulation skills, the curriculum suggests setting up an environment that minimizes overstimulation (e.g., eliminating bright lights and loud noises) and provides strategies for soothing babies in distress.

Facilitating Cognitive Development: The curriculum consistently promotes research-based teaching practices to support infants' cognition. Many Activity Cards provide prompts for teachers to extend infants' learning during play and exploration, such as talking about the sounds different rattles make or comparing the textures of tactile blocks. In addition, the curriculum helps teachers embed math language and concepts throughout learning experiences (e.g., the "Your Hands, My Hands" activity includes prompts to count fingers and compare the size of hands). Finally, the curriculum provides guidance on how to scaffold infants' problem-solving skills.

Supporting Physical Development: The curriculum consistently promotes research-based practices to support infants' perceptual, motor, and physical development. For example, the Activity Cards provide learning experiences to support infants' gross and fine motor skills (e.g., positioning the infant in a prone position to play; encouraging the infant to reach and grasp). Similarly, the Activity Cards suggest intentional teaching practices to support perceptual understanding and perceptual-motor development (e.g., playing games about body parts, teaching movement words). The curriculum includes many varied opportunities for infants to practice new physical skills, such as squeezing a sensory glove, a sponge, or squeeze toys (e.g., a baster or an eyedropper).

Responsive Relationships and Interactions: Frog Street Toddler offers suggestions for how to build secure, trusting adult-child relationships that are foundational to children's development in the Social and Emotional domain and all other domains. For example, Welcome to Frog Street Toddler recommends assigning primary caregivers. The Activity Guides invite caregivers to spend time engaging with children and showing physical affection. The curriculum mentions the importance of being responsive to children's cues and needs, but it lacks comprehensive guidance on how to engage in sensitive, responsive caregiving with toddlers. The curriculum offers many opportunities for teachers to initiate joint attention with toddlers. However, it gives minimal guidance to teachers on how to start a back-and-forth exchange based on the child's focus or interest.

Daily Routines as Opportunities for Learning: The curriculum minimally addresses daily caregiving routines, which are rich opportunities to support toddlers' development and learning in all domains. Welcome to Frog Street Toddler provides limited guidance on how to establish developmentally appropriate schedules and routines for toddlers, such as "follow the same daily schedule" or "tell little ones what is coming next." Additionally, there are only a few examples in the entire curriculum on how to extend children's learning during caregiving routines (e.g., describe actions when changing a diaper or having lunch with little ones; compare real bananas to a photo).

Play and Exploration: The curriculum provides minimal guidance on research-based practices to support toddlers' play and exploration. Welcome to Frog Street Toddler and "Spruce Up Your Space" tips describe how to create an indoor and outdoor environment for active physical play and exploration (e.g., provide plenty of space for physical movement; set up areas of the room with a variety of activities, textures, and materials). The curriculum mentions the importance of free play for children's development and provides some opportunities for open-ended exploration (e.g., painting; building with boxes; exploring shoes). However, many of the suggested activities are teacher-directed and narrowly focus on completing a task in a particular way. Frog Street Toddler does not describe how or when to allow time for child-initiated play throughout the day or how to provide learning experiences based on children's interests, which research shows contribute to toddlers' development in both Approaches to Learning and Cognition.

Language-Rich Environment and Interactions: The curriculum promotes research-based teaching practices to support toddlers' development in the Language and Communication domain, such as using varied types of talk with toddlers (e.g., modeling complete sentences, introducing new words, engaging toddlers in extended discourse). Frog Street Toddler also provides several learning experiences that encourage caregivers to sing songs, recite rhymes, do finger plays, and read books with toddlers. Research demonstrates that these activities support toddlers' emergent literacy skills. The curriculum introduces children to new and interesting vocabulary words each week, but this vocabulary is not based on children's interests or engagement.

Promoting Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Self-Regulation: Frog Street Toddler consistently promotes research-based practices to support toddlers' emotional, behavioral, and cognitive self-regulation. The curriculum gives guidance on how teachers can use emotional coaching to help toddlers understand and manage their emotions. Similarly, Welcome to Frog Street Toddler provides strategies to facilitate the development of emotional and behavioral self-regulation skills, such as discussing basic rules and offering choices to children. Finally, the curriculum offers many activities to support toddlers in developing executive functioning skills (e.g., Simon Says; Stop and Go; acting out rhymes and songs).

Facilitating Cognitive Development: The curriculum promotes some research-based teaching practices to support toddlers' development in the Cognition domain. For example, the curriculum encourages adults to scaffold toddlers' problem-solving skills by modeling strategies, introducing a process (e.g., identifying a problem, generating possible solutions, trying out solutions), and allowing children to solve their own problems (e.g., understanding why a block tower tumbled down, retrieving a ball out of reach). Many of Frog Street Toddler's activities provide prompts for teachers to extend toddlers' learning, such as providing language-rich input about objects or experiences and asking open-ended questions. However, there is less information on how teachers can intentionally support toddlers' cognitive development during play and open-ended exploration. Similarly, the curriculum features several activities that focus on introducing toddlers to math language and concepts, but the curriculum does not specify how to embed math language and concepts into daily caregiving routines (e.g., mealtimes, diapering, toileting).

Supporting Physical Development: Frog Street Toddler consistently promotes research-based practices to support toddlers in the domain of Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Development. For example, the Activity Guides and Photo Activity Cards provide learning experiences to support toddlers' gross and fine motor skills (e.g., jumping, climbing, using paintbrushes, manipulating play dough). Similarly, the Activity Guides and Photo Activity Cards suggest intentional teaching practices to support perceptual understanding and perceptual-motor development (e.g., asking children to name body parts as they stretch, describing textures as toddlers walk on a tactile path). The curriculum includes many varied opportunities for toddlers to practice new physical skills, such as activities inviting toddlers to put on various clothing items or using physical skills during other self-care routines.

Responsive Relationships and Interactions: The curriculum consistently promotes responsive relationships and interactions with infants and toddlers, which research shows are foundational to children's development in all domains. Innovations: Infant and Toddler Development describes the development of attachment, and the curriculum materials provide strategies to build secure, trusting relationships with children. Strategies include engaging in reciprocal interactions, making eye contact, smiling, and sharing in children's discoveries. The curriculum activity books promote sensitive, responsive caregiving (e.g., guidance on how to cope with crying, suggestions to maximize interactions during care routines). Many curriculum activities also offer examples of how to engage children in joint attention (e.g., "Look, a squirrel!" or "You are pointing at the wind chimes, Eric."). Finally, the curriculum encourages teachers to talk with children throughout the day and respond to their vocalizations.

Daily Routines as Opportunities for Learning: Innovations: The Comprehensive Infant and Toddler Curriculum provides guidance on how to establish developmentally appropriate schedules and routines for infants and toddlers. The curriculum recommends using individualized scheduling and interacting with children during basic care routines. It also provides specific guidance on how to support children and families during transitions, arrivals, and departures. While the curriculum states that interactions during daily routines support children's social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive development, it lacks specific direction or examples of how to engage in these interactions during caregiving routines.

Play and Exploration: The curriculum promotes infants' and toddlers' play and active exploration, which research suggests provide a rich context for learning in all domains. It includes guidance on how to create safe indoor and outdoor environments that support active physical play and exploration. This may include providing climbing equipment, offering loose parts for children to arrange in a variety of ways, and making toys available on low shelves for children's independent choices. In addition, the curriculum suggests providing uninterrupted time for children to explore and play according to their own interests. Finally, the curriculum planning process encourages teachers to observe children's emerging play themes and interests to inform future plans. The webbing approach to curriculum planning allows teachers to plan learning experiences and adjust their plans based on children's individual responses and interests.

Language-Rich Environment and Interactions: The curriculum offers research-based teaching practices to promote language-rich environments and interactions. In particular, the Communication with Parents, Teachers, and Friends chapters provide guidance on how to engage in varied types of talk with infants and toddlers throughout the day (e.g., description, parallel talk, self-talk, expansion, reflective dialogue). In addition, the curriculum offers strategies to build infants' and toddlers' vocabulary, like providing word labels for things in the environment, using pictures to enhance vocabulary, playing word games with children, and adding vocabulary words to curriculum plans. Finally, the curriculum's "Literacy Possibilities" feature several opportunities to support children's engagement in early literacy learning, such as read-alouds, puppet stories, and emergent writing experiences.

Promoting Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Self-Regulation: Innovations: The Comprehensive Infant and Toddler Curriculum promotes research-based teaching practices to support children's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive self-regulation. In particular, the Expressing Feelings with Parents, Teachers, and Friends chapters offer teaching practices to help infants and toddlers begin to regulate their emotions (e.g., labeling and validating emotions, modeling recognition and expression of emotions). These chapters also provide strategies to support children's behavioral regulation (e.g., setting clear limits, teaching social problem-solving, giving children words to use during peer interactions). Finally, the curriculum describes the development of executive function and provides some strategies to facilitate children's cognitive self-regulation (e.g., helping children understand logical consequences for their behaviors, supporting children as they learn to delay gratification).

Facilitating Cognitive Development: The curriculum promotes some research-based teaching practices that facilitate infants' and toddlers' cognitive development. The "Teacher Talk" prompts embedded throughout the curriculum's learning experiences provide examples of how to support cognitive development during play and exploration (e.g., narrating actions, describing objects, asking open-ended questions). Similarly, the learning experiences provide examples of how to embed math language and concepts throughout activities (e.g., counting with children, talking about size). However, the curriculum lacks explicit discussion and learning goals of children's emergent math skills or guidance on how to support those skills during daily routines. The curriculum offers instruction for how teachers can scaffold children's social problem-solving skills (e.g., calling for help, trading, walking away, taking turns, plan-making), but it lacks strategies or learning experiences that support the development of children's problem-solving skills more broadly.

Supporting Physical Development: The curriculum consistently recommends research-based teaching practices to support perceptual, motor, and physical development of infants and toddlers. The curriculum activity books include many varied opportunities for infants and toddlers to practice fine, gross, and perceptual motor skills. For example, the curriculum features several learning experiences for children to practice fine motor skills (e.g., shaking rattles, playing pat-a-cake, turning book pages, nesting cans and boxes) and gross motor skills (e.g., kicking legs with foot rattles, tossing a ball, walking on different textures). The curriculum's "Movement Possibilities" encourage teachers to allow infants and toddlers to practice physical skills and provide support to each child as needed.

Responsive Relationships and Interactions: The curriculum consistently promotes responsive relationships and interactions with infants and toddlers, which research shows are foundational to children's development in all domains. Volume 1: The Foundation (Volume 1) and Volume 3: Objectives for Development & Learning (Volume 3) provide strategies to build secure, trusting relationships with children (e.g., smile at children, show affection, talk with children, spend time playing with children). Volume 2: Routines & Experiences (Volume 2) offers guidance on how to engage in sensitive, responsive caregiving during daily routines (e.g., hellos and goodbyes, diapering and toileting). For each routine, the curriculum includes "Responding to What Children Need" with a brief scenario, teacher's thoughts and responses, and what the child might be learning. Throughout Volumes 1–3, the Intentional Teaching Cards, and the Book Conversation Cards, the curriculum offers several prompts and examples of how to engage children in joint attention as well as how to respond to children's language and communication.

Daily Routines as Opportunities for Learning: The Creative Curriculum^® for Infants, Toddlers & Twos provides comprehensive guidance on how to use daily routines to support infants' and toddlers' development and learning in all domains. Volume 1: The Foundation includes guidance on how to create predictable and flexible schedules centered around infants' and toddlers' routines (e.g., diapering and toileting, eating and mealtimes) and experiences (e.g., playing with toys, imitating and pretending, enjoying stories and books). It also includes specific tools to support teachers in the process. For example, the "Individual Care Plan" is developed with each family to help create individualized schedules for infants. Volume 2: Routines & Experiences gives further guidance on how to create an environment to support caregiving routines, how to create caring and teaching strategies during routines, and how to partner with families.

Play and Exploration: The curriculum promotes infants' and toddlers' play and active exploration, which research suggests provide a rich context for learning in all domains. Volume 1: The Foundation describes how children learn through play. It also guides teachers to provide sufficient time in the daily schedule for play and exploration. Volume 2: Routines & Experiences offers several examples of equipment for active physical play (e.g., riding toys, climbers, slides, push-and-pull toys) and open-ended materials (e.g., grasping and mouthing toys, blocks, balls, dough, painting materials) that would foster children's curiosity, exploration, and creativity. Several Intentional Teaching Cards reinforce these principles by inviting children to explore and use objects in multiple ways (e.g., cups, whisks, rocks, nesting toys, foam blocks, cardboard boxes).

Language-Rich Environment and Interactions: The curriculum offers research-based teaching practices to promote language-rich environments and interactions. Volume 1: The Foundation provides guidance on how to engage in varied types of talk with infants and toddlers throughout the day. It suggests using high-pitched and sing-song voice with infants, imitating infants babbling, asking toddlers open-ended questions, and describing what children see, hear, taste, and smell. Volume 3: Objectives for Development & Learning offers strategies to build infants' and toddlers' vocabulary (e.g., use gestures and concrete objects to clarify words; introduce children to new words through books, songs, conversations, and pretend play). The Intentional Teaching Cards include guidance on how to engage in back-and-forth exchanges with children, as well as descriptions of several opportunities to support children's emergent literacy skills. Finally, the Book Conversation Cards give developmentally appropriate prompts and strategies to read the curriculum's Highlights Hello books with infants and toddlers.

Promoting Emotional, Behavioral, and Cognitive Self-Regulation: The Creative Curriculum^® for Infants, Toddlers & Twos promotes research-based teaching practices to support children's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive self-regulation. Volume 1: The Foundation offers general strategies to help infants and toddlers begin to regulate their behaviors (e.g., establish and follow rituals, redirect children's behaviors as needed, offer choices). Volume 3: Objectives for Development & Learning gives strategies for creating an emotionally supportive environment (e.g., label and talk about emotions and their causes, help children detect and interpret cues about how someone else feels) and for facilitating cognitive self-regulation (e.g., model self-talk to help children stay engaged and persist; provide specific, positive verbal feedback or physical support during challenging tasks). The Intentional Teaching Cards reinforce these strategies with learning experiences to support children's emotional, behavioral, and cognitive self-regulation. For example, "Let's Try This Instead" invites teachers to use a positive approach to redirecting children's inappropriate behavior during routines and experiences.

Facilitating Cognitive Development: The curriculum promotes research-based teaching practices that facilitate infants' and toddlers' cognitive development. The Intentional Teaching Cards provide specific prompts for teachers to support cognitive development (e.g., describe objects, comment about cause and effect of actions, encourage child to make comparisons). Volume 1: The Foundation highlights strategies to embed math language and concepts throughout everyday routines and activities (e.g., count with children, use comparison words, talk about shapes). The Intentional Teaching Cards provide multiple, related opportunities for children to explore math concepts (e.g., matching shapes, doing puzzles, reading counting books). Volume 3: Objectives for Development & Learning offers suggestions to teachers on how to scaffold children's problem-solving skills (e.g., provide opportunities to explore objects in new and creative ways, describe children's problem-solving strategies).

Supporting Physical Development: The curriculum consistently recommends research-based teaching practices to support infants' and toddlers' perceptual, motor, and physical development. The Intentional Teaching Cards include many, varied opportunities for infants and toddlers to practice fine, gross, and perceptual motor skills. For example, the curriculum features several learning experiences for children to practice the fine motor skill of squeezing (e.g., manipulating playdough, squeezing sponges, wringing out wet clothes). Throughout the learning experiences to support physical development, the curriculum prompts teachers to choose appropriately challenging physical tasks for each child, explain how to perform physical tasks, model actions, describe children's movements, praise children's efforts, and encourage children to keep practicing.