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Tracing back the roots of Early Childhood Education is to think of Plato, the renowned Greek Philosopher. Plato was one of the early contributors to education, with an emphasis on how to teach children. The notion that children lead their learning is based on an innate foundation of instincts and basic knowledge. Plato knew the educator's role to be to guide children to opportunities for development through play, and to bring their knowledge building and learning experiences into everyday life.

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Martin Luther believed that education should be universal--for boys and girls.  He made it a point to emphasize that education strengthened the family as well as the community. Luther believed that children should be educated to read independently so that they could have access to the Bible.  To Luther this meant that teaching children how to read at an early age would be a strong benefit to society.

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John Amos Comenius contributed to the early beginnings of early childhood education. He strongly believed that learning for children is rooted in sensory exploration. Comenius wrote the first children’s picture book to promote literacy.

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John Locke was known as one of the most influential thinkers. He said that teachers make children because children do what they are taught. He believed that children are molded and shaped by their experiences in life. He pushed that morals were very important to teach a child and did not believe that traits are inherited.

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Jean Jacques Rousseau, the French writer, philosopher, and social theorist, is regarded as one of the dominant figures in Early Childhood Education - with a school of thought found in many programs today. His book Émile, ou De L'éducation, on early education and training the young, continues to be the blueprint of carefully nurturing minds and building on child-centered learning experiences. Rousseau was one of the first thinkers who separated childhood as a stage from adulthood. He thought to educate them through sensory experiences, exploration, and the environment. Without the pressures of societal duties or roles placed on adults, in order to preserve innocence of childhood.

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Friedrich Froebel believed that children learn through play. He designed teacher training where he emphasized the importance of observation and developing programs and activities based on the child’s skill level and readiness. Froebel formalized the early childhood setting and founded the first kindergarten.

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Maria Montessori viewed the children as a source of knowledge and the educator as a social engineer. She viewed education as a means to enhance children’s lives, seeing the learning environment as important as learning itself. She took the position that children’s senses should be educated first, followed by children’s intellect. The Montessori Method is an internationally recognized approach to educating children.

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Jean Piaget established a theory of learning in which children’s development is broken down into a series of stages (sensory motor, preoperational, and concrete operation). He concluded that development is a gradual and continuous process--as it passes through the stages--that results in experience and maturity. Piaget theorized that children learn through direct and active interaction with the environment.

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Lev Vygotsky proposed a socio-cultural perspective for the development of children. He believed that social interaction provides a medium for cognitive, social and linguistic development in children. Vygotsky believed that children learn through scaffolding their skills; this meant a more capable member of the community/society would assist the child in completing tasks that were within or just above the child’s capability, which is also known as zone of proximal development. Vygotsky emphasized collaboration and the implementation of mixed age groupings of children to support knowledge/skill acquisition.

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Dewey had a vital influence on psychology, education, and philosophy. His emphasis on progressive education contributed greatly to the use of experimentation rather than an authoritarian approach to knowledge. Dewey's influence as a pioneer in the field of pragmatism allowed future thinkers and researchers to delve deeper into how a person's experience is connected to their ability to gain knowledge. Over time, this has allowed others to make strides in modern clinical education and functional psychological study. Dewey was also a prolific writer. Over his 65-year writing career, he published more than 1,000 books, essays, and articles on a wide range of subjects including education, art, nature, philosophy, religion, culture, ethics, and democracy.

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This theory combines the theories of primarily Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and John Dewey. Constructivism extends the view that children form what they know for themselves, based on their own prior knowledge. They are active participants in their learning, who can think critically and problem-solve. That their experiences with others, with places, and things around them provide a framework from which they construct knowledge. Moreover, that the activities and experiences they initiate themselves will promote the best learning results, being that they find them interesting.
Three types of constructivism have been identified: cognitive, social, and radical.  Cognitive constructivism is attributed to Piaget, social constructivism mainly to Vygotsky and Dewey, and radical constructivism to one Ernst von Glasersfeld.
Central to Constructivism theory is the tenet that teaching and learning are child-centered.

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Rudolf Steiner, the creator of what is now known as the Waldorf education philosophy and schools, focused on developing free and morally responsible individuals with a high level of social competence. Steiner broke this down into three developmental stages; Preschool to age 6 (experiential education), Age 6-14 (formal education) and ages 14+ (conceptual/academic education).
Waldorf education is popular world-wide.  Student readiness, creative expression through music, art, and eurythmic movement are combined with a holistic mindset and way of bonding between teachers and students.  These aspects work together to form confident alumni who are creative, can think critically, and desire to better the world.  Critique of the Waldorf Method is centered around thought that the philosophy behind the school, Anthroposophy, and the faculty members who participate in its belief, seem to be a religious cult.

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Caroline Pratt, the founder of The Play School, believed that children learned through exploration and play. Her progressive model for education was also the basis of a scientific study of children's nature regarding their development. She was influenced by Piaget's cognitive interactionist theory and Dewey's, her mentor, philosophy of teaching children about their society through dramatic and role play. In her early progressive pedagogy, play is defined as a sensory experience led by children's intrinsic motivation and the opportunities the teaching environment offers for exploration. The curriculum included core subjects such as Languages, Math, Music, and Art, with Social Studies and physical movement (rhythm and gross motor), as highlighted with the tools provided in play opportunities.

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Lucy Sprague Mitchell was a progressive education figure who founded the Bank Street College of Education, influenced by and working with Caroline Pratt. Mitchell's curriculum viewed the Whole Child from the nursery school level and promoted children’s mental, physical, and emotional growth and development through building an experimental learning environment. In her efforts to support the Whole Child’s social needs, she integrated the Whole Teacher by introducing teacher training and professional development in education through curriculum creation and educational materials production.

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Erik Erikson developed the psychosocial theory. In this theory there are four stages of development for children througout which the parent and educator play a pivotal role in supporting the child’s success--in every stage--for a positive outcome. These four stages included: I. Trust vs. Mistrust, II. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt, III. Initiative vs. Guilt, and IV. Industry vs. Inferiority. Erikson stressed that the ordinance of social emotional development is a key component to the early childhood curriculum.

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Abraham Maslow maintained that in order for learning to happen, the basic needs must first be met.  This theory is known as the Self-Actualization theory.  In accordance with his theory, Maslow created his five point Hierarchy of Needs.
The pinnacle of this hierarchy, is self-actualization, i.e., or a person reaching their own potential.  The other levels that lead to self-actualization include: the fulfillment of physiological needs, followed by safety and security, love and belonging, and self-esteem.  The levels follow a development from physical to cognitive and social, although the order can vary according to the individual. For Maslow it then followed that the educational environment must take on an activist role in order to meet these needs.
Maslow's holistic outlook has greatly affected the way educators view education and learning, influencing views on teaching and student behavior.  Many educators now support the idea that social and emotional development is an essential part of the curriculum.

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Bronfenbrenner is well known for his Ecological Systems Theory, a bio-ecological system dividing  the societal influences from a child's environment and how they impact development into sub-parts. He believed that an individual's surroundings well affected them and did so in proximal levels. His theory divided the environment into five parts, by direct and indirect relationships on the individual, starting from the closest system outwards; microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. These parts unfolded as layers, some even communicating with one another.

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The influences of education can be found at each layer. In brief, at the microsystem as the interpersonal interactions with peers, teachers, and the school environment, the mesosystem as the interactions between the two immediate environments such as between the student's family and teachers, the exosystem including the school district and board, and the macrosystem encompassing the social and health systems and community norms.

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Loris Malaguzzi, the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, based on the original childcare centre opened in the town of Reggio Emilia, was a strong believer in documenting the children’s learning and interests which educators would base their programming around on for the following days.

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David Weikart the founder of HighScope, which drew from the theories of Piaget, Dewey and Vygotsky, primarily focused on the child’s intellectual maturation. The landmark study that earned HighScope validity was the Perry Preschool Project in 1962. A randomized controlled study of 123 children of similar skill level entering the study, split into two groups, one receiving HighScope instruction while the control group did not receive it, but continued the traditional process. Results indicated an increase in academic success, academic adherence and an increase in wages.
Since HighScopes inception, the methods, curriculum, and classroom environment behind it have been adopted in schools all over the world. The HighScope method is characterized by the sharing of control of the learning process by teachers and students. This is achieved by learning centers or stations around the classroom completely open to student choice--choice of station, materials, and use of materials. These stations form the ideal environment in which students can plan what they will do, execute it, and later come together to share or review what they did in those stations. This is the Plan-Do-Review method for which HighScope is famous.  Teachers also initiate guided learning in the HighScope method, during which student choice and input is also valued. HighScope appears to be a constructivist approach to preschool to kindergarten education.

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Howard Gardner contributed the theory of Multiple Intelligences to the field of education. He maintains that there are eight kinds of intelligences. He identified them as visual/spatial, verbal/linguistic, mathematical/logical, bodily/ kinesthetic, musical/rhythmic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalistic.
His theory generated and supported the understanding that intelligence takes a variety of forms, and can be demonstrated or assessed in many ways outside of traditional educational methods such as standardized tests.
Due to the activism of Gardner and others who promoted his theory, many schools in the United States have implemented interdisciplinary curricular programs. Educators have an increased awareness of diverse student capabilities.  Gardner's theory underscored the need for adapting or personalizing education for children.  It's implementation is well-suited for inclusive classrooms.