This article maps affective operations in artful teaching practices in Social Education at a University College in Denmark to make visible the ways affect shapes experience, behavior, and forms of social connection. The article contributes to the fields of playful learning and aesthetic learning in higher education through its application of a…

The paper contains two different studies on preschool children's physical activity at indoor playground markings. Both of these studies are designed as two-factor experiments. Participants were children (N=87, 41 females, 46 males; Mage= 66.4 months) from an urban public preschool. Two main hallways of the school were painted with playground…

In 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued "Guidelines for Preschool Education (GPE) (trial version)" to call on early childhood practitioners to use a child-centred and play-based approach to teaching and learning. In order to implement the requirements, many kindergartens in China have carried out the play-based kindergarten…

We used photographic activity schedules to increase the number of play activities completed by children with autism during unstructured time on the playground. All 3 participants engaged in more playground activities during and after training, and they continued to complete activities when novel photographs were introduced.

This paper focuses on the "Junkyard" ("chatzar grutaot")--a unique educational environment and practice developed in kindergartens on the Israeli kibbutz in the 1940s and 1950s, and still in wide use today in kibbutz kindergartens. The Junkyard, consisting of artefacts of the adult world that are no longer in use, is an…

An important part of the Progressive Education movement, the playground, influenced John Dewey's educational philosophy of learning. "The playground, particularly during the Progressive reform movement of the early 1900s benefited from the widespread belief that play was child's work. Dewey portrayed children as miniature adults who…

Although outdoor play has been widely recognised for the many benefits it affords children, some have rationalised the need for it based on goals related to physical health. More specifically, these instrumental goals have been closely related to obesity, overweight, and/or physical (in)activity. Adhering to obesity discourses and the notion of a…

In this research report, the authors explore an early childhood center as it transitions from a traditional playground to an outdoor classroom. Herein, the first phase of this qualitative research project is introduced and a central finding of adult perspectives is explored. The tension inherent in the various adult perspectives concerning the…

In 2010 the Provincial Government of Ontario, Canada introduced a new play-based learning curriculum. Educational stakeholders (i.e. teachers, early childhood educators and student teachers) have been charged with the task of implementing the play-based curriculum, which upholds children's fundamental right to play, as a means to health and…

This article critically reflects on the participation of young children aged 3-4 years in an ongoing outdoor learning project started in 2004. The aims of the research are to investigate children's dispositions within the outdoor environment, to elicit children's perspectives of their outdoor experiences and to investigate the relationship between…

An exciting event had occurred for the grade 3 classes at Woodlands State School. A new play space designated for the older grades had now been opened to the third graders. In sharing their excitement over this "real treat, real privilege," the teachers invited the children to find out more about playgrounds and, in particular, their new…

This issue explores the nature of childhood by offering selections that re/imagine the idea of the child as art maker; inquire about the relationships between children and adults when they are making art; and investigate how physical space influences approaches to art instruction. Readers are invited to join a dialogue that questions long-standing…

This paper reports on a pilot study in which children aged 7-12 (N = 68) had an opportunity to study in a novel formal and informal learning setting. The learning activities were extended from the classroom to the playful learning environment (PLE), an innovative playground enriched by technological tools. Curriculum-based learning was intertwined…

The turn of the 20th century was a time of major political and economic fluctuation and demographic shifts in American cities. As a result, physical health and physical supremacy became serious concerns. Between 1880 and 1930, the Progressive Era, politicians, doctors, and educators advocated for physical activity with the intent to improve…

Prompted by a concern regarding the large numbers of unsupervised children playing on the streets of Dublin in the 1920s and 1930s, the Civics Institute of Ireland (referred to subsequently as the Civics Institute) established 10 playgrounds where children aged between four and 14 years could play after school hours and during school holidays.…