A New Play-Based Early Education Curriculum

Neighborhood Villages is thrilled to announce a new partnership with the LEGO Foundation and Boston Public Schools (BPS) Department of Early Childhood to develop a first-of-its-kind play-based, vertically aligned curriculum for early childhood education settings. Through grant funds awarded to us by the LEGO Foundation, we are developing the new toddler component (ages 15 months through 2.9 years) of the curriculum and preparing it for effective and seamless scaling across the City of Boston and beyond.

This project will be led by Neighborhood Villages’ Megina Baker, Director of Teaching and Learning, with support from Neighborhood Villages Curriculum Fellow Sarah Elahi. Megina joined us in 2021 and has an impressive and extensive background in developing early education programming. Before joining Neighborhood Villages, Megina helped develop the integrated, play-based “Focus on Early Learning” curricula currently used in the BPS system and other school districts for ages 4-8. In 2021, in concert with the continued expansion of universal pre-kindergarten in Boston, BPS engaged Neighborhood Villages, with Megina’s leadership, to build an enhanced iteration of the play-based Focus curriculum specifically for 3-year-olds, called “Focus on 3s.”

With support from the LEGO Foundation, the new curriculum we are developing will create continuity with the BPS “Focus on Early Learning” curricula. It will be play-based, developmentally appropriate, culturally sustaining, trauma-informed and aligned with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care curriculum rubric and guidelines.

The result will be a new groundbreaking and integrated curriculum available to all children between 1-8 years old in Boston.

“Here at Boston Public Schools, our mission is to educate the whole child,” said Superintendent Mary Skipper. “The lifelong journey of learning begins at a young age and we are so proud to have such strong partners in developing a comprehensive curriculum that lays the foundation for success both in school and life after school.” 

Through Neighborhood Villages’ support of early learning centers with educator coaching and other teaching supports, we’ve identified a major void when it comes to play-based curricula for toddlers. As it stands now, early educators face few choices for play-based, creative, and aligned curricula for this age group. Many program leaders are not satisfied with existing curricula for toddlers or how they are being implemented in their toddler classrooms.

So, when we saw an opportunity to partner with the LEGO Foundation, an international leader in promoting learning through play for all children, we jumped at the chance to work with them to design a play-based curriculum for our youngest learners and provide the rich, engaging learning opportunities young children are capable of right from toddlerhood.

“Young children develop and learn through play,” said Bo Stjerne Thomsen, Chair of Learning through Play at the LEGO Foundation. “With the new partnership with Neighborhood Villages, we are excited to see an evidence-based playful curriculum from age 1-8, which supports early educators and advances our mission to support the most vulnerable communities around the world.”

“Research has shown that early education programs grounded in learning through play can significantly support infants and toddlers during their most formative years. However, there is a huge gap in early childhood curricula because most don’t provide the intentionality that our youngest children deserve,” said Megina. “With support from the LEGO Foundation, I look forward to working on this initiative to create the first program of its kind and help set our children up to thrive.”

Neighborhood Villages will pilot and evaluate the toddler curriculum with partner early learning centers through our existing program, The Neighborhood. The Neighborhood is a network of five Boston-based early education providers for which we serve as a centralized hub of support: the program models the ways in which K-12 districts support individual schools. Presently, The Neighborhood serves approximately 3,000 people, including 900 children. Neighborhood partners will play a central role in the development of our toddler curriculum and accompanying supports through providing expertise, idea generation, and continuous feedback. Additionally, we will work with these partners on professional development programs and coaching to support early educators in successful implementation of the curriculum.

“We are so grateful to the LEGO Foundation for its leadership in making learning through play a priority for every child and for their support of this ambitious project. We are also excited to have Megina – a widely respected leader in the field of early childhood education – at the helm,” said Sarah Siegel Muncey, co-founder of Neighborhood Villages. “With our established and ongoing work piloting and testing programs to transform the early education and care delivery system, Neighborhood Villages is uniquely situated to take on this important work and fill this unmet need, which is critically important to our children’s development.”

If you still have any doubt about how essential this early education programming is, let us tell you, the research is clear. Studies have found that the first three years of a child’s life are a time of rapid and critical development in all domains. During this time, young children develop neurologically and physically and establish patterns of attachment that set the stage for life-long relationships. Early childhood programs can play a powerful role in supporting infants and toddlers as they develop physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively. Research has demonstrated that strong curricula grounded in learning through play can guide early childhood educators and provide children with planful, engaging, and valuable learning in the early years. Research has also shown that vertical alignment in curricula, or thoughtful consideration about the learning experiences and approaches children experience over time, can offer a sense of continuity for young children and ensure that they receive a seamless and balanced education and care experience as they grow. 

We’ll continue to keep our Neighborhood Villages community updated as we embark on this exciting new project!