Approaches to Play and Learning (APL)

Other North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development sets

• Cognitive Development (CD)
• Emotional and Social Development (ESD)
• Health and Physical Development (HPD)
• Language Development and Communication (LDC)

Discover things that interest and amaze them and seek to share them with others.APL-1j

Communicate interest to others through verbal and nonverbal means (take teacher to the science center to see a new animal).APL-1k

Show interest in a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks. APL-1l

Discover things that interest and amaze them and seek to share them with others.APL-1m

Communicate interest to others through verbal and nonverbal means (take teacher to the science center to see a new animal). APL-1n

Show interest in a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.APL-1o

Demonstrate interest in mastering new skills (e.g., writing name, riding a bike, dance moves, building skills).APL-1p

Ask questions about the people and things around them.APL-2i

Use all available senses, tools, and a variety of strategies to explore the environment (drop objects in water to see if they sink or float).APL-2j

Purposely try different ways of doing things to see what and how they work (adjust blocks used as a ramp to make a ball roll faster and farther).APL-2k

Ask questions to find out more about the things that interest them, including questions about future events.APL-2l

Choose among different ways to explore the environment based on past experience (use a magnifying glass that the class used before to explore something new).APL-2m

Use what they know from past experience to understand what is happening now (get an umbrella to go outside because it is raining).APL-2n

Engage in dramatic play themes that include interacting with other children, but often are not coordinated.APL-3m

Talk to peers and share materials during play.APL-3n

Engage in make-believe play with imaginary objects.APL-3o

Use language to begin and carry on play with others.APL-3p

Express knowledge of their everyday lives and culture through play (uses chopsticks to eat, pretends to fix hair the way his/her family styles hair).APL-3q

Develop and sustain more complex pretend play themes in cooperation with peers.APL-3r

Use more complex and varied language to share ideas and influence others during play.APL-3s

Choose to use new knowledge and skills during play (add features to dramatic play scene related to class project, write list, build structure like displayed picture).APL-3t

Demonstrate their cultural values and “rules” through play (tells another child, “That’s not what mommies do.”).APL-3u

Offer new ideas about how to do or make things.  APL-4h

Add new actions, props, or dress-up items to pretend play.  APL-4i

Use materials (e.g., art materials, instruments, construction, writing implements) or actions to represent experiences or ideas in novel ways. APL-4j

Experiment with language, musical sounds, and movement.APL-4k

Plan play scenarios (dramatic play, construction), and use or create a variety of props or tools to enact them.APL-4l

Expand the variety of roles taken during dramatic play and add more actions, language, or props to enact roles.APL-4m

Use materials or actions in increasingly varied and resourceful ways to represent experiences or ideas. APL-4n

Make up stories, songs, or dances for fun during play.APL-4o

Express a belief that they can do things that are hard.APL-5k

Choose to participate in an increasing variety of familiar and new experiences.APL-5l

Accept new challenges when offered.APL-5m

Try things they are not sure they can do, while avoiding dangerous risks.APL-5n

Express a belief that they can do things that are hard.APL-5o

Approach new experiences independently.APL-5p

Ask to participate in new experiences that they have observed or heard about.APL-5q

Independently seek new challenges. APL-5r

Seek and make use of ideas and help from adults and peers to solve problems (“How can I make this paint get off my pants?”).APL-6k

Purposefully use a variety of strategies to solve different types of problems.APL-6l

Talk to themselves to work through the steps to solve a problem.APL-6m

Seek and make use of ideas and help from adults and peers to solve problems (“How can I make this paint get off my pants?”).APL-6n

Describe the steps they will use to solve a problem.APL-6o

Evaluate different strategies for solving a problem and select the strategy they feel will work without having to try it.APL-6p

Explain how they solved a problem to another person. APL-6qAPL-6q

Show increasing independence and purpose when making choices (“I want to go to blocks.”).APL-7h

Express goals or plans and follow through on them (“I’m going to draw my house.”). APL-7i

Show increasing independence and purpose when making choices (“I’m going to the block area to make a track for my race car.”).APL-7j

Independently identify and seek things they need to complete activities or tasks (gather supplies and make a birthday card with a message).  APL-7k

Set simple goals that extend over time, make plans and follow through (“Let’s make a rocket ship. We need blocks.”). APL-7l

Focus on age-appropriate activities for a short period of time, even with interruptions (continue working on a puzzle even though another child sitting nearby is laughing and talking).APL-8h

Remain engaged in more complex activities that they have chosen. APL-8i

Maintain focus and return to an activity after a break. APL-8j

Sometimes able to ignore irrelevant information when focusing on a task (sort multicolored wooden beads by shape).APL-8k

Consistently remain engaged in self-directed activities.APL-8l

Seek help from others to complete a challenging activity (ask a teacher for help putting a puzzle away on a high shelf; ask a friend for help in naming an unfamiliar animal in a picture).APL-9e

When something does not work, try different ways to complete the task (when a block tower falls, try putting the blocks together in a different way to build the tower again).APL-9f

Keep working to complete tasks, including those that are somewhat difficult.APL-9g

Seek help from others to complete a challenging activity (ask a teacher for help putting a puzzle away on a high shelf; ask a friend for help in naming an unfamiliar animal in a picture).APL-9h

When something does not work, try different ways to complete the task (when a block tower falls, try putting the blocks together in a different way to build the tower again).APL-9i

Plan and follow through on longer-term tasks (planting a seed and caring for the plant).APL-9j

Keep trying until a challenging activity is complete despite distractions or interruptions (multi-piece puzzle started before lunch and completed later). APL-9k