Promote Joyful Engagement and Positive Behavior Through the Project Approach

Originally published:

One of the common concerns teachers express when considering introducing the Project Approach to their classroom is how they will handle the diverse needs and challenging behaviors of the children in their care. It is true that our early childhood classrooms can include some extensive needs, behaviors, and personalities. We have some children who have experienced trauma, and some who are anxious. Others have developmental delays or disabilities. Teachers may be juggling students’ various therapies, Individual Education Programs (IEPs), and behavior plans, and they may or may not have the appropriate support or skills to manage it all.

However, it is also true that our early childhood classrooms have children with unique interests, curiosity, wonder, and great potential to participate in deep investigations. We know that, given the proper space and opportunities, all children can learn. The fact is we do not need to wait for the “perfect time” or the “perfect class” to engage children in high-quality inquiry.

Interestingly, research has shown that the very learners who have challenges with social play skills, communication, and behaviors can benefit greatly from deep, meaningful, topic engagement as in the Project Approach (Beneke & Ostrosky, 2015). In depth, purposeful investigations on a topic of interest can help a child attend, focus, and persevere. The Project Approach supports focus, communication, and social/emotional learning, and provides a context in which to practice new literacy, numeracy, motor, and inquiry skills.

Project Approach work, when planned and managed intentionally and individualized to the classroom’s unique needs, can help minimize or prevent problematic behaviors in many ways.

Engagement – Busy hands and bodies are less bored and have less time to become restless or distracted.

Selection of meaningful topics – When children care about the project topic and feel their work has meaning and importance, they are more heavily invested and dedicated to the tasks.

Emphasis on strengths – Everyone benefits when teachers know their students’ strengths and abilities, along with their individual needs. Teachers then can create opportunities for children to participate in project research and showcase their contributions.

Collaboration – There is a sense of teamwork when a class works together to investigate and create a project. Project work is social and collaborative. It can create authentic opportunities for offering ideas, taking turns, solving problems, sharing the workload, and developing emotional skills.

Inclusivity – In Project Approach work, everyone contributes. Each child can participate at their own level and pace. Children feel part of a community of working toward a common goal.

Communication – The Project Approach challenges children to express their interests, needs, and wants. Their ideas are heard, valued, and celebrated.

Teachers who use the Project Approach have shared some simple considerations, adjustments, and strategies that support intentional and methodical inquiry in their classrooms:

Use intentional topic selection .

Choose a topic with a specific child or group of children in mind. Aim to meet and challenge their interests and provide opportunities to develop specific skills or dispositions.

Share the importance of the work to be done .

Let children see the meaning in the lessons or activities and see themselves as contributors to project inquiry. Take pictures of the children at work during the project and post them in the classroom, so that children can see their work is valued. Through pictures, children can share with others the importance of their work.

Plan with Purpose .

Pair children with more capable peers to allow for mentoring and modeling as well as relationship and team building.

Balance active learning tasks, high energy investigations, and play with more passive lessons and reflective work, adjusting for needs as they arise.

Create schedules or visual task management lists to communicate expectations and task plans.

Embed and practice individual and group goals through project work.

Be flexible and follow the children’s lead.

Avoid creating rigid product or outcome-specific expectations. Know when to take a break by observing children and reading their cues.

Model inquisitive wondering and investigation skills.

Work alongside children and use your enthusiasm to pose questions, distract from off-topic interests with engaging activities, or redirect children from problematic behaviors.

Here are some examples from an investigation of garbage trucks.

Problematic behavior:

Several children lack focus during center time and are dumping tools on the floor in the dramatic play center.

Project opportunity:

Challenge the children to collect, count, trace, and label tools as part of their project research.

Two children are repeatedly crashing toy garbage trucks into each other and begin to argue.

Project opportunity :

Ask the children where the garbage trucks are going and invite them to help crumble or tear paper to use as garbage for their trucks.

Several children are not allowing a certain peer to join their play. The peer screams, cries, and hits in anger.

Engage the peer in house play, one of their favorite centers, and prompt them to request “garbage collectors” to come pick up the garbage.

One child tries to leave the classroom during center time.

Remind the child that they needed to help build a garbage truck with their choice of recycled materials. Remind the child that soon, everyone in class will take their garbage trucks to show to others in the school.

One of the basic foundations of Project Approach is the intentional observation of children and their strengths, needs and interests. Another one is to follow those interests and guide children through meaningful work of inquiry and problem solving. These are also two practices that teachers use to identify and address the social/emotional and other skill needs that can lead to challenging behaviors. When we implement these strategies and thoughtfully seek to engage children rather than manage them, Project Approach work can help support classroom joy and student engagement, while reducing behavioral challenges in the classroom.

Beneke. S. & Ostrosky, M.M. (2015). Effects of the Project Approach on preschoolers with diverse abilities. Infants and Young Children, 28 (4), 355-369.

Kim Burd and Laura De Luca are experienced early childhood special education teachers with a shared passion for play-based, inclusive programming for young children. They taught collaboratively together using the Project Approach and enjoy mentoring others in the practice, sharing their work online and at conferences. Their ‘Dog Project’ was highlighted in The Project Approach For All Learners , (2019) by Sallee Beneke, Michaelene Ostrosky and Lilian Katz.

Biography current as of 2025