When students learn about DAP (Developmentally Appropriate Practice) and its components of child development, individual variation, and social/cultural contexts, they often ask about the pre-made curriculum that we may see in our early childhood settings. Can premade curriculum be developmentally appropriate? For example, can we say that a preschool curriculum for 4-year-olds would be developmentally and culturally appropriate for all 4-year-olds across the board? Well, not exactly, but it can be a good place to start.
Analogy: Why make brownies from scratch when Duncan Hines has already provided the brownie mix for us?
That pre-made curriculum is based on the first component of DAP (child development). The activities within are centered around the developmental milestones for a specific age group. One thing that separates those who educate young children from those who simply care for young children is the understanding that to truly be developmentally appropriate, the curriculum must be tailored to meet the needs and promote the development of a particular child or group of children. Individual variation and social/cultural contexts must be considered in addition to child development.
If you have the opportunity to use pre-made curriculum, take it and run with it. No need to start from scratch unless you want to. Just take the brownie starter from Duncan Hines and add the extras that make it the perfect dish for your audience.