A body of research that investigates the social, cognitive and emotional effects of digital technologies on the development of children reports that digital technologies are limiting activities that connect children with people. On the other hand, there is a great amount of research on the positive role of digital play. However, digital games per…

In this paper, we present a collaboration project within one urban Puerto Rican classroom, focused on constructing a critical literacy inquiry curriculum grounded in the students' out-of-school literacy practices in their communities, including their experiences with media and popular culture. We focused on a critical literacy and media inquiry…

This paper is a tentative attempt to unwrap and understand one aspect of playful practice and the influences which determine its existence in early years settings. "Storying" events, those occasions when teachers and children together "make up" stories or parts of stories, develop roles or co-construct fantasies, occur moment by moment in some…

This paper explores ideas of language as a cognitive tool and the role of gesture in expressing children's interests and levels of knowledge. The context is a group of three-year-old children who participate in a weekly music session with a trained musician. The authors present drawings from photographs of children's hands and interpret them,…

There is a Chinese proverb which tells that a child is like a piece of paper: everyone who touches it leaves a mark, so one should make sure those marks are positive. In this article, the author raises an issue which concerns providing for, recognizing and celebrating creativity in children's play. It involves challenging the set of ideas about…

The paper reminds readers of the importance of "playful talk" in bridging home and school discourses. Through a number of excerpts of bilingual and monolingual children drawn from homes and classrooms over the past decade, it illustrates how school discourse may be taken home and transformed into "home talk" through play.…