Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

The Creative Curriculum

Also called Creative Curriculum, Teaching Strategies, Teaching Strategies GOLD.

Ages Preschool, ages 3 to 5Grades Pre-KPlanning A plan you adaptScreens Some screen timeShelf Preschool and the early yearsUpdated November 2026

The Creative Curriculum is a published preschool curriculum from Teaching Strategies, and the most-used curriculum in Head Start. Classrooms are set up as interest areas (blocks, art, library, discovery and more, plus the outdoors), and learning is organized into multi-week "studies" where children investigate one everyday topic, such as trees or balls, across all of them. Teachers track 38 objectives for development and learning, usually with the observation tool Teaching Strategies GOLD. It suits preschools and teachers who want a full, ready-planned, play-based program with a clear structure and paperwork that funders recognize.

1 Where it came from

The Creative Curriculum is published by Teaching Strategies, a US company. We could not confirm the original authors or first publication date from the sources we read. The current sixth edition comes as five foundation volumes, The Foundation, Interest Areas, Literacy, Mathematics and Objectives for Development and Learning, alongside teaching guides for each study. A 2019 study described it as the most-used curriculum in Head Start.

2 The big ideas

  • Interest areas. The room is divided into ten interest areas plus the outdoors, each stocked so children can play, build and explore with purpose.
  • Studies. Instead of a new theme each week, children spend several weeks investigating one real-world topic, asking questions, observing and representing what they find.
  • Play with intention. Children learn through play and exploration, but teachers plan it around specific objectives.
  • 38 objectives. Learning is tracked against 38 objectives for development and learning, across social-emotional, physical, language, thinking, literacy, math and other areas.
  • Observe to plan. Teachers watch and record what children do and use it to decide what to offer next.

3 What a lesson looks like

A day in week two of a Trees study: at morning meeting the class looks at the leaves they collected yesterday and the teacher writes down their questions ("Why are some leaves pointy?") on a chart. During choice time, children spread out across the interest areas: some sort leaves by shape in discovery, some build a "tree house" in blocks, some make bark rubbings in art, and a few look at a book about trees in the library corner. The teacher joins a small group to count and compare the leaves, and takes a photo and a quick note of a child explaining that "the big ones are from the tall tree." Outdoors, the group visits the same tree they visit every week to see what's changed. Later there's a read-aloud, a short small-group literacy activity with leaf names, and time to play.

4 Reading and math

The curriculum has dedicated Literacy and Mathematics volumes, and reading and math activities are planned inside each study and in small groups as well as during play in the interest areas. We did not read the detailed scope and sequence for either, so check the volumes or ask a program how it covers letter sounds, phonological awareness and counting.

5 The adult's job

Teachers set up and refresh the interest areas, follow (and adapt) the study guides, lead group times and small groups, join play to extend it, and spend a lot of time observing and recording what children do against the 38 objectives.

6 How progress is checked

Most programs use Teaching Strategies GOLD, an observation-based tool keyed to the 38 objectives: teachers collect notes and examples of what each child does and use them to rate progress on each objective. Children are not tested.

7 Strengths and criticisms

Strengths

  • A complete, organized program: a new or busy teacher gets a planned year of studies, room set-up guidance and an assessment system in one.
  • Multi-week studies let children go deeper into a topic than a new theme every Monday.
  • Play-based, with dedicated literacy and math volumes.
  • Widely used, so training, materials and colleagues who know it are easy to find.

Criticisms and watch-outs

  • The evidence for it is weak. A What Works Clearinghouse review of an older edition found no discernible effects, and a 2019 study found no rigorous support for it over what programs were already doing.
  • A 2026 randomized trial of the current edition found gains on GOLD but not on independent tests; GOLD is closely tied to the curriculum, which may make it look better on its own measure.
  • It is a commercial product that programs buy, usually together with GOLD.
  • Whole-child curriculum brands show little rigorous difference from one another, so the quality of a program's teachers likely matters more than which box the curriculum came in.

8 What the research says

In 2013 the federal What Works Clearinghouse reviewed the fourth edition: only two of 14 studies met its standards, and they found no discernible effects on oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing or math. That edition is no longer sold. A 2019 study of curricula used with low-income preschoolers found no rigorous support for The Creative Curriculum over "business as usual", while noting it is the most-used curriculum in Head Start. In 2026 the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) published a randomized trial of the current edition. Children in Creative Curriculum classrooms showed gains in language and math on GOLD, but tests given by outside assessors showed no overall differences between groups. NIEER suggests the outside tests may have been too hard for many young children to show change (floor effects), and that GOLD's close fit to the curriculum could explain the gap. The fair summary: a widely used, well-organized program without strong independent evidence that it improves outcomes more than other good preschool teaching.

9 How to try it

  1. Pick one everyday topic your child or class can touch and see: balls, trees, water, shoes. Plan to stay with it for two or three weeks.
  2. List their questions on day one and come back to them each week.
  3. Spread it across areas. Count and compare in math, build in blocks, draw and paint in art, find books in the library corner, look closely in discovery.
  4. Visit something real. Go back to the same tree, park or shop several times and notice what changes.
  5. Note what you see. A quick line or photo each day shows you what each child is learning and what to offer next.

10 Using Peabody with it

  • Preschool themes with their booksTopic ideas and picture books to build a study around; ours are shorter themes, so stretch one over several weeks.
  • Observations and portfoliosFree notes and portfolios by area and skill; a simple stand-in for keeping records, not a GOLD replacement or a GOLD-aligned tool.
  • Theme plannerPlan a week's activities across interest areas and print it.
  • Read-aloud pagesRead-aloud ideas for the library corner and group time during a study.

Peabody is free and has no ads. Pages on peabody.kids are for children; pages here are for the adults teaching them.

11 Programs that follow it

Programs and materials often named with this approach: The Creative Curriculum for Preschool (sixth edition), Teaching Strategies GOLD.

Questions people ask

What is a "study" in The Creative Curriculum?
A multi-week investigation of one everyday topic, such as trees, balls or buildings. Children ask questions, observe, try things and show what they find across all the interest areas, with the teacher planning activities toward the curriculum's objectives.
Is The Creative Curriculum evidence-based?
Not strongly. A federal review of an older edition found no discernible effects, and a 2026 randomized trial of the current edition found gains on the curriculum's own assessment, GOLD, but not on independent tests. It is widely used and well organized, but independent evidence that it beats other good preschool teaching is lacking.
What is Teaching Strategies GOLD?
The observation-based assessment that usually goes with The Creative Curriculum. Teachers record what children do and rate their progress against 38 objectives for development and learning. Children are not tested.
Do Head Start programs use The Creative Curriculum?
Many do. A 2019 study described it as the most-used curriculum in Head Start, though Head Start programs choose their own curriculum.

Sources

  • HighScope: Children plan what they will do, do it, then talk about it with an adult: "active participatory learning" tied to the famous Perry Preschool study.
  • Play-based learning: Children learn through play they lead, with adults setting up the space and gently steering it toward a goal: the mainstream view of good early teaching.
  • Academic pre-K and direct instruction: Teacher-led, planned lessons in letter sounds, counting and other school-readiness skills, from scripted Direct Instruction to content-focused pre-K curricula.
  • Project-based learning: Students spend weeks answering a real question or solving a real problem, and finish by showing what they made to an audience.
  • Reggio Emilia: Long projects grow from children's own questions, explored in paint, clay, light and talk, with teachers documenting what children think.
  • Every approach in the curriculum guide

Written by Peabody Teach. No ads, no affiliate links, and no program pays to appear. Something wrong or out of date? Tell us.