What Is The Creative Curriculum — and What Does It Look Like at Bufi?

If you have toured a few preschools in Doral, you have probably heard the phrase "we use The Creative Curriculum" more than once. It is one of the most widely used early-childhood curricula in the United States — it is the backbone of many Head Start classrooms — and it is the framework we build every day around at Bufi. But "curriculum" is a strange word for a two-year-old's day, so here is what it actually means, and what you will see when you walk through our door.

In one sentence

The Creative Curriculum is a research-based approach in which children learn through purposeful play: teachers set up the room and the day so that the play children already want to do builds the language, thinking, social and physical skills they need next.

Where it comes from

The Creative Curriculum was developed by Teaching Strategies and has been refined for more than forty years. It is organized around 38 objectives for development and learning that describe how children grow from birth to kindergarten — across social–emotional skills, physical development, language, cognitive skills, literacy, mathematics, science, social studies, the arts and, for children learning a second language, English-language acquisition. Teachers use those objectives to decide what to offer each child next, rather than marching every child through the same worksheet on the same day.

What it is not

It is not a stack of printables, a phonics drill or a screen. It is also not "just play" with adults watching from a chair. The difference between free play and The Creative Curriculum is intention: the teacher chose those magnetic tiles, put the measuring cups in the water table, and sat down to ask "what happens if we add one more?" for a reason.

What a day looks like in a Creative Curriculum classroom

Rooms are set up in interest areas — blocks, dramatic play, art, a reading corner, a discovery table, sand and water, music and movement, and the outdoors. Children choose where to go during long stretches of the day, and teachers move between areas, joining the play, asking questions and quietly noticing what each child can do. Short group times bring everyone together for songs, stories and planning. For preschoolers, learning is organized into studies: weeks-long investigations of everyday things like buildings, balls, trees or clothes, where children ask their own questions, test them, and share what they found.

For infants and toddlers

The version for infants, toddlers and twos is built on two things: relationships and routines. A primary caregiver who knows a baby's cues, feeding, diapering and naps handled as learning moments rather than interruptions, and simple, safe materials to explore with all five senses. That is why our infant room follows each baby's own schedule instead of a group schedule.

How Bufi uses it

• Every activity has a purpose. When you see our toddlers pouring at the water table, the teacher is building early math (more, less, full, empty) and fine-motor control — and she will tell you so in your daily update.
• Small groups. The Creative Curriculum depends on teachers observing individual children closely; that only works with low ratios, which is why we keep ours under Florida's requirements.
• Projects, not worksheets. Our "Learning in Action" projects — the experiments, the collaborative art, the garden — are the preschool studies in practice.
• Two languages, naturally. English and Spanish are spoken throughout the day, and the curriculum's language objectives give teachers a clear picture of how each child is progressing in both.
• Daily communication. Observations are only useful if they reach you. Each family has a private channel with the school where teachers share what your child did, learned and needed that day.

What your child will actually learn

By the time a Bufi child leaves our Pre-K room, the curriculum has walked them through the skills kindergarten teachers look for: recognizing letters and the sounds they make, counting with meaning, comparing and sorting, holding a pencil and cutting with scissors, following a multi-step routine, solving a disagreement with words, and speaking up in a group. Just as important, they have spent three years being asked what they think — which is the habit that makes school feel like a place they belong.

Questions to ask any preschool that says it uses The Creative Curriculum

• Can you show me the interest areas in the room and tell me what children learn in each one?
• How do teachers record what each child can do, and how often will I hear about it?
• What is the ratio in my child's room?
• What does a study look like — can you show me one your class did recently?
• How much of the day is child-chosen play versus teacher-led group time?

We are happy to answer all five on a tour. Bufi Preschool is a bilingual, DCF-licensed preschool in Doral, Florida, for children from 3 months to 5 years, and a Florida VPK provider.