The objectives of the study were: (1) To study the existing curricula of nursery class followed by different nursery school of Jalandhar city. (2) To analyze the curricula of nursery class in the light of objectives laid down by Kothari Commission for pre-schools. (3) To construct an activity centered curriculum frame work for nursery class to meet social, physical and intellectual needs. (4) To evaluate effectiveness of activity centered curriculum in terms of physical, social and mental growth. (5) To study the interaction of activity centered curriculum gender and place of residence. 

The hypotheses of the study were: (1) There will be significant difference in cognitive development of the groups exposed to activity centered curriculum and traditional curriculum. (2) Students exposed to activity centered curriculum will show significant difference in the acquisition of social skills as compared to students exposed to traditional curriculum. (3) The activity centered curriculum will effect significantly the physical development of the children. (4a) There will not be any significant difference in the cognitive development of boys and girls irrespective of the type of curriculum. (4b) There will not be any significant difference in the social development of the boys and girls. (4c) There will not be any significant difference in the physical growth of boys and girls. (5a) Place of residence makes no significant difference in the cognitive development of children. (5b) Place of residence makes no significant difference in the social development of children. (5c) Place of residence makes no significant difference in the physical growth of the children. (6) There will not be any significant effect of interaction between curriculum, types and gender on physical, social and cognitive development. (7) The interaction between type of curriculum and place of residence will not effect significant physical, social and cognitive development. (8) Interaction between gender and place of residence does not effect significant physical, social and cognitive development. (9) There will not be significant effect of interaction among variables- curriculum type, gender and place of residence on physical, social and cognitive development.  

The sample comprised 200 students of nursery class from four different schools of Jalandhar city selected with the help of cluster random sampling.

Boehm’s Test of Basic Concepts for pre scholars and Indian adoption by G.S. Sodhi, Social Behavior Measuring Schedule by G.S. Sodhi and Physical development assessment scale by G.S. Sodhi were used for data collection. 

Pretest-posttest 2x2x2 factorial quasi experimental design was used by researcher.One group was taught through activity centered curriculum and the other through traditional curriculum. The duration of treatment was one full session.

The data were analyzed by t-test and ANOVA techniques.

The findings of the study were: (1) Activity centered curriculum proved to be better curriculum as compared to the existing curriculum of nursery class particularly for physical and social development of pre-school children. (2) Boys development was greater than that of girls irrespective of type of curriculum. (3) The development of urban children was more as compared to rural children with respect to physical, social and cognitive development irrespective of the type of curriculum and gender. However, rural children of the activity centered curriculum scored higher with respect to intellectual development. (4) Interaction between curriculum type and gender came to be significant. But there was no significant effect of interaction between levels of curriculum and levels of gender on physical and social development of pre-school children.