Emergent Curriculum

In traditional classrooms the curriculum is initiated by the teacher.  Each unit has a theme and activities are planned and prepared in advance. 

An emergent curriculum is one that builds upon the interests of children. It is often spontaneous and responsive to the immediate interests of a group of children. Topics are driven by the ideas, excitement, information and questions from the children themselves. 

Ideas can be supported and extended by providing equipment, books, craft supplies, and experiences through which the children can learn more about their natural interests and curiosities.  I am not the “expert” who knows all and teaches the children but rather I co-explore alongside the children and observe and encourage their discoveries. 

The initial topic may sprout off in many directions combining several seemingly unrelated topics.  Each topic may last a day, a week, a month or more – as long as the children are interested in pursuing the ideas.  If the initial topic is broad it may be helpful to create a web to visualize the possible progression of ideas.  A sample web is available at the bottom of this page.

I can develop a web by observing and listening to the children at play or by asking the children open ended questions.  I can also create a web on the bulletin board to display for parents pictures of the children, sample crafts, discussions, booklists, etc as the web expands.

In my childcare home I do not pre-plan “theme weeks” and expect all the children to participate in group activities.  I choose to provide activities based on the interests of the children but do not require all the children to participate.  Often what is interesting to one child doesn’t interest another.  Sometimes we have several different things going on at the same time and it can seem chaotic.  What it can be though, is an excellent opportunity for children to follow a thought through without being dragged ‘back on task’ to a planned lesson.

At one time the school age children I had in care became obsessed with llamas.   Originally I think they just liked the way the word “llama” sounded and they liked to say it over and over.  We started collecting pictures of llamas to display around the house.  The children searched the internet and books for information on llamas – where they came from, what they eat, and how to care for them.  They found sites where you could purchase llamas and decided they wanted a llama for a pet.  When I pointed out that we couldn’t keep a llama in the city they wanted to know “why” and set out to find the answer. 

They used their new found knowledge and imaginations to write stories about and build models of “Llamaland”.  They played indoor & outdoor llama games like “Llamas From Space” and “Spy Llama”.

The preschool children never really caught on to the llama thing but because one of our llama poems included other animals too, the younger children developed an interest in rabbits.  We read rabbit books and made rabbit crafts. I set out pop-up houses and tunnels and they spent hours every day hopping about building burrows and dens.   They all became carrot lovers -- kids may hate vegetables but rabbits love them!

All these activities took place during October and November.  None of the children had any interest in traditional themes such as “Fall” “Halloween” or “Thanksgiving”.  I still discuss these topics during our daily calendar time but if the children show no interest in pursuing them we don't.

One day the two three-year-old children in my care were engaged in dramatic play.  The girl was a hair dresser/doctor – one job wasn’t enough for her.  The boy was a repairman and was busy using various tools to fix the walls and furniture in the playroom.  While having my hair done by the hairdresser I took advantage of the opportunity to discuss various occupations and what their duties were.  Later, while we were reading a story about occupations the children seemed to find it funny that a circus performer was considered a “job”. 

For the next day I found all the books I had that were related to the circus and put them on display.  I already had the large plastic animals and the big wooden blocks available in the playroom.   The children pretended to be circus animals balancing small toys on their heads and crawling around roaring and neighing – even the toddlers joined us for this.  The older children began to include acrobats in their game by laying the wooden blocks end to end and walking on them.  I got out the plastic scrubbers from our tossing game and we practiced juggling.  These activities continued throughout the next week.  We read several circus stories some of which provided new activity ideas.  After one story about the circus of opposites, the oldest preschooler refocused his attention on opposites. 

He began observing opposites in everything.  Outside on a walk he announced “The clouds are high up and the grass is down low”.  When I commented on how well he was cooperating with another child during free play he replied that the opposite of cooperating was fighting.  None of the other preschoolers seemed to be interested in these new concepts – developmentally some of them were probably too young and besides, the circus was really fun.  To be honest, I was much more intrigued by the opposites – I had so many ideas.  Whenever possible I tried to combine opposites with the circus activities of the rest of the group and we made a few side trips together.   Eventually we left both topics behind and headed off to the farm with the animals.  

The infants and toddlers I had in care at the time were not capable of fully understanding the concept of opposites and it would not have been developmentally appropriate practice for me to expect them to follow a planned curriculum involving opposites.  However, this did not mean that I couldn’t allow the older child to pursue his interest and still have the younger children involved in what we were doing. 

My curriculum didn’t involve a week’s worth of group activities related to “occupations”, followed by a week of “circus” activities and then move on to “All About Opposites”.  Instead, I started discussions and provided supplies to extend their individual choice of free play activities.  The activities I planned were based on the children’s moods, interests and attention spans.

Sample Web