Gaining Confidence in the Project Approach 

If you are an early childhood educator beginning a journey into using the Project Approach, it may be difficult to let go of the written guidance many curricula provide. While the Project Approach has a structure and identifiable stages you will go through, they are not predetermined for you and rely on the children’s interests. For some of us, this flexibility can feel a bit chaotic. 

For example, as a professional development specialist, I work with educators who teach children with disabilities.  I recently supported an educator who has been in the field for many years. She was interested in returning to the Project Approach after attending a book study on it, and she believed the children would be more engaged when “driving” their learning. The educator observed the children and found they were particularly interested in vehicles, so she began the first stage of a project on that topic. After making a web with the children and starting to plan investigative activities for them, she noticed that the children were less focused on the vehicles themselves. She noticed the children were building car washes, talking about different ways you can wash a vehicle, and discussing how to adapt the car wash for bigger vehicles, such as school buses. She reached out to me asking for guidance because she was not sure if this was still project work, or if she needed to go back to the planning/web stage. While talking it out she realized there was no need to restart, but instead, she needed to stop trying to control the direction of the project and let it unfold. 

This got me thinking about when I first started using the Project Approach many years ago. I remembered constantly thinking to myself “What are we doing? Is this still a part of the project work?” The answer is quite simple. Yes, it is. The beauty of the Project Approach is that its direction flows with the children’s developing interest. When a topic is first introduced and we begin to make our teacher web, we are guessing where things might lead. We are seeing if it is something we can truly investigate and that will give children rich experiences. Where it ultimately goes will depend on each unique group of children. For example, if you have a morning and an afternoon class, the project might be on the same overall topic, such as vehicles, but your morning class may be interested in carwashes, while your afternoon class is interested in how vehicles work. 

For me, it helped to think of the children’s topic web as a living document. It would grow and change as we got deeper into our investigations and gathered new information.  The Project Approach allows us to follow the children’s lead and discover where it takes us. We often find that we are learning right alongside the children. If you are feeling “stuck” in a project, step back and watch what the children are doing, listen to what they are talking about, and watch what they are pretending or making. It will give you an idea of what direction to go next, or if it is time to move on to the culminating stage.  

Over the years many educators I have supported are overwhelmed by the flexibility of the Project Approach. They are worried about getting it “right.” Once they let go of those worries and let the children be their guide, they find the excitement and curiosity of the children drives the project to exactly where it was meant to go. If you find yourself not sure where to start, wondering if you are doing it right, or feeling “stuck” on where to go next, take a deep breath, loosen up on your control of everything, and let the children be your guide.