Note: For young children, learning is an integrated experience. The examples below may include multiple areas of learning and development.
Responding Earlier
Responds to people, things, or sounds
Possible Examples
Orients toward a noise.
Turns head toward a person who comes into view or begins talking.
Looks at a mobile.
Responding Later
Notices new or unexpected characteristics or actions of people or things
Possible Examples
Vocalizes or gazes at a familiar adult who makes an animated facial expression or unusual noise.
Smiles when an adult begins singing a song.
Moves arms or legs when a mobile begins moving overhead.
Source: California Department of Education. 2009. California Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Foundations Series. https://www.cdevideos.org/.
Exploring Earlier
Explores people or things in the immediate environment
Possible Examples
Bangs a drum with hands repeatedly.
Touches hair of another child.
Pats, pulls on, or turns pages of a board book.
Watches intently as an adult prepares snack.
Source: California Department of Education. 2009. California Infant/Toddler Learning and Development Foundations Series. https://www.cdevideos.org/.
Exploring Later
Explores new ways to use familiar things, including simple trial and error
Possible Examples
Paints on paper and on arm when given a paintbrush and paint.
Molds sand using a cup.
Tries using utensils to work with play dough.
Building Earlier
Explores through simple observations, or manipulations, or asking simple questions
Possible Examples
Moves around a fish bowl to continue watching a fish as it swims around objects.
Drops a marble in a maze and follows its path as it rolls to the bottom.
Asks, “What’s that doing?” when seeing or hearing a bulldozer across the street while on a neighborhood walk.
Source: California Department of Education. 2015. California Preschool Learning and Development Foundations Series. https://www.cdevideos.org/.
Building Middle
Explores by engaging in specific observations, manipulations, or by asking specific questions
Possible Examples
Puts a dry sponge in water and then squeezes it to see what happens.
Observes a snail and asks, “Why do snails have shells?”
Compares color or shape of leaves gathered on a nature walk.
Source: California Department of Education. 2015.
Building Later
Carries out simple investigations using familiar strategies, tools, or sources of information
Possible Examples
Uses a magnetic wand to figure out which objects on a table it will lift up.
Uses a magnifying glass to observe a caterpillar closely, and describes its pattern of colors and number of legs.
Places a variety of objects in water to see which will float and which will sink.
Uses a communication device to learn about the new pet guinea pig.
Source: California Department of Education. 2015.
Integrating Earlier
Carries out multi-step investigations, using a variety of strategies, tools, or sources of information
Possible Examples
Examines images from informational books or a computer to learn about the habitats of different animals.
Looks through a prism held up to the light, directing its motion until a rainbow of colors appears on the wall.
Sets up a project, with an adult, that involves investigating the growth of lima bean plants with different amounts of water, and documents their growth.
