The play needs of under threes is an under-researched area. In this study, 100 parents and carers were surveyed regarding their visit to a children's museum with a child under three. Using a play taxonomy and observation schedule devised for the study, 50 toddlers were also observed playing with the museum exhibits. The findings showed that whilst…

Since the introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in England in 2008, assessment of children has taken a formal and standardized measurable approach. Such an approach goes against most findings of play-oriented research. Thus, the project reported here employed participatory action research with practitioners in order to identify…

Variability in children's early-learning home environments points to the need to better understand specific mechanisms of early mathematical development. We used a sample of 66 parent-preschool child dyads to describe parent-reported mathematical activities in the home and observed parent-child mathematical activities in a semi-structured play…

High-quality teacher-child relationships provide protective and supportive environments that provide social support for children to engage in curriculum and take risks that result in overall school success (Buyse, Verschueren, & Doumen, 2011; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). Teachers have the potential to use their relationship as a tool for…

The study seeks to understand the relation between preschool children's mode of participation and negotiation strategies during play and their theory of mind (ToM) development in the Hong Kong context. Forty-two 5-year-old children were recruited. Their emotional and cognitive ToMs were assessed along with expressive language ability. Children's…

In this study, we investigated the contribution of inhibition and maternal socialisation of children's fear to observed emotion regulation during a fear induction. Fifty-three parent-child dyads (M[subscript age]?=?3.76 years) participated. Parents completed a series of questionnaires, and parent-child dyads were observed during a fear…

This paper makes a proposal for the comprehensive assessment of the family context of children aged two years. It offers an updated resource based on recent research into the assessment of family contexts and their influence on children's psychological development. The proposal explores the following areas: Presence of learning materials;…

The objective of this study was to examine the different development characteristics of gifted children during the preschool period in comparison with normal developing children according to family observation. For this purpose, face-to-face interviews were carried out with the parents of 112 children identified as gifted and data regarding the…

This study, comprising three sub-studies, aims to examine how child-rearing practices vary according to different social circumstances in Japan. By comparing teacher-child interaction at mealtimes in day care centres both on an isolated small island located in Okinawa prefecture, Tarama, and in a large industrialised city, Tokyo, the following was…

The current study examines the professional well-being of teachers, the classroom emotional support, and the emotional experiences of toddlers in their care. Professional well-being of teachers is conceptualized to include teacher feelings about their work, autonomy in decision-making, actual wages, and perceptions of fairness of wages within the…

The present study explored relations among language skills, private speech, and self-regulation in three- to five-year-old children. Language skills were assessed with a standardised measure of language ability and by teacher reports of adaptive use of language in the classroom. Private speech was measured by observing children during a…

Home and educational institutions are children's most important external influences and a positive partnership between the two can positively affect children's cognitive and non-cognitive development. Quality of family-preschool partnership (FPP) can depend on preschool and family characteristics. For Germany, studies show that immigrant parents…

Self-determination theorists argue that parents can support or thwart their children's psychological needs for relatedness, autonomy, and competence. The first aim of this study was to develop a measure to assess six dimensions of parenting theoretically linked to meeting toddlers' needs. The second aim was to examine the associations of these…

Decades of research have associated effective emotion and behaviour regulation with learning and social competence among young children. However, further studies on children's use of emotion regulation in their everyday lives are required. This study focuses on investigating six- to nine-year-old children's (N?=?24) use of emotion regulation…

Recent re-conceptualisation of paternal involvement (Pleck, J. H. (2010). Paternal involvement: Revised conceptualization and theoretical linkages with child outcomes. In M. Lamb (Ed.), "The role of the father in child development" (5th ed., pp. 67-107). London: Wiley), while proving fruitful, has yet to be applied to investigations into…