Three concepts critically important in developing curricula for young children are play, thinking/creativity, and sustained interest. Through play, children explore the world; practice discovered relationships; and establish meanings for concepts, words, ideas, and actions. Teachers should actively focus on the learning potential of play. Teachers' concepts of children's cognitive and creative development should also be broad enough to include a range of thinking activity levels and at least four basic dimensions of creativity. Specifically with respect to thinking, children are capable of knowledge acquisition/processing, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Ideational fluency, originality, flexibility, and elaborate thinking are dimensions of creativity that teachers can also increase, while they remain sensitive to differences in children's learning styles. A good curriculum is responsive to children's curiosity, develops and furthers their interest commitments, and introduces new areas of interest. These three important aspects of curricula for young children can be integrated in practice through the use of "webbing" and a project approach. Webbing, a process designed to organize children's brainstorming efforts, results in an integrated written record of the knowledge, processes, resources, and learning experiences/products associated with a given topic and provides a detailed basis for project development. (RH)