Developmentally and Culturally Appropriate Practice (DCAP) is a culturally congruent and critical pedagogy that serves as a framework for early childhood education for all individuals. This paper examines young children's gender differences in learning and their gender-oriented culture and promotes developmentally and culturally appropriate gender-fair and gender-congruent practices in conjunction with young children's naturalist intelligence. Presented in a question-answer format, the paper addresses the following issues: (1) how preschool teachers perceive young children's gender characteristics in class; (2) sex differences in ways children explore nature; (3) how adults respond to young children's naturalist intelligence; (4) intellectually gender-congruent approaches to young children's naturalist intelligence; and (5) teachers' responsive curriculum construction. The paper notes that the meaning of gender-fairness has not been clearly articulated, but is connected with issues of equity, equal opportunity, or multiculturalism. Gender congruent practice means that teachers' critical thinking and curriculum decision-making processes can accept and promote gender-based differences as well as individual differences as equally rich resources in the learning community. Boys and girls require gender responsive learning and development opportunities within a shared environment, one that is supportive of gender congruent play and learning experiences. Teachers' knowledge of contributing influences to children's gender differences is crucial. Because the existence of a feminine bias in preschools influences pedagogical practices, teachers need to be extremely careful to maintain gender-congruent experiences and a gender-fair learning environment. The paper concludes by asserting that it is possible to create a gender-fair learning environment for all young children and that it is long overdue. (Contains 32 references.) (KB)