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Peer reviewed
Direct linkGabrielle Ivinson – Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 2024
This paper diffracts Deleuze and quantum physics through Winnicott's work to argue for an enrichment to playing. The roots of the play-cognitive hierarchy in Freudian psychoanalysis makes visible that progression and the stages that a child must pass en route to rationality continue to feed educational assumptions that a child must leave playing…
Descriptors: Early Childhood Education, Play, Child Development, Psychiatry
Lauren Brown Adams – Dimensions of Early Childhood, 2025
In the Fall of 2018, the author embarked on her dissertation research, focusing on the critical issue of enhancing early childhood programs through the lens of early literacy development facilitated by play. At that time, many districts' early childhood curricula were heavily skewed towards academics, such as English/Language Arts (ELA) and Math,…
Descriptors: Play, Emergent Literacy, Child Development, Early Childhood Education
Download full textFarahiyah Wan Yunus; Sakinah Idris; Siti Noraini Asmuri; Bess Fowler; Muhammad Hibatullah Romli – American Journal of Play, 2024
The authors contend that children benefit from play as a form of intervention and as a means of fostering their cognitive, social, and physical growth. They review several standardized instruments developed over the last fifty years to assess this benefit of play on child development. They identify twenty-one such play measures, the majority of…
Descriptors: Child Development, Play, Test Reliability, Standardized Tests
Kimberly Squires; Tricia van Rhijn; Debra Harwood; Jess Haines; Kim Barton – Early Childhood Education Journal, 2025
Access to playful experiences outdoors is critical for children's learning and development. With a significant amount of young children attending early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings (OECD, OECD Publishing, 2023), these programs have an important role in furthering children's equitable access to outdoor play. As part of a larger…
Descriptors: Early Childhood Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Learning Processes, Child Development
Sophie Carruthers; Tony Charman; Kathy Leadbitter; Ceri Ellis; Lauren Taylor; Heather Moore; Carol Taylor; Kirsty James; Matea Balabanovska; Sophie Langhorne; Catherine Aldred; Vicky Slonims; Vicki Grahame; Patricia Howlin; Helen McConachie; Jeremy Parr; Richard Emsley; Ann Le Couteur; Jonathan Green; Andrew Pickles; PACT-G Trial Group – Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2025
We investigated autistic children's generalisation of social communication over time across three settings during a play-based assessment with different adults and explore the potential moderating effects on generalisation of age, nonverbal IQ and level of restricted and repetitive behaviours. The social communication abilities of 248 autistic…
Descriptors: Generalization, Interpersonal Communication, Interpersonal Competence, Communication Skills
Martyna Figueiredo – BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, 2025
Risky play is climbing, high-speed activities, dangerous exploration, dangerous elements, rough and tumble, and disappearing experiences. There are three primary barriers to risky play: the introduction of electronics, building safer playgrounds in new urban-designed cities, and parent involvement in overscheduling activities have been hindering…
Descriptors: Play, Risk, Barriers, Telecommunications
Zoe Sills; Sarah Watkins – SAGE Publications Ltd (UK), 2025
Now, more than ever, children need to develop autonomy and decision-making skills. Too often in Early Years settings, opportunities for learning through risky play are missed. In this book, Zoe Sills and Sarah Watkins support you to overcome the barriers to embedding and allowing space for risky play in your setting. (1) Know the value of Risky…
Descriptors: Play, Risk, Early Childhood Education, Child Development
Elena Yudina – American Journal of Play, 2023
The author contends that, although most early childhood educators agree about the value of play for child development, preschools and kindergartens often do not reflect this belief, and she discusses this anomaly in the adult notion of play and how it manifests in classroom practices. She argues that it produces schoolroom practices in which…
Descriptors: Play, Preschool Children, Cognitive Style, Teaching Methods
Nikolai Veresov; Nikolai Veraksa – Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development, 2025
This paper introduces new tools for the cultural-historical analysis of children play in early years and how the cultural-historical genetic-analytical model can be applied as a tool of analysis of the role of children's play in psychological development. The paper discusses the complexity of the interrelations of several situations in child's…
Descriptors: Play, Child Development, Interpersonal Relationship, Cultural Background
Michelle Simpson – Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2024
The benefits of play for children's learning are well-documented and well-researched. The evidence for its positive impact on brain development, social interactions, emotional wellbeing, and motor skills is widespread. So, why should this practice stop after the early years? "A Practical Guide to Play in Education" encourages teachers to…
Descriptors: Play, Child Development, Program Development, Resources
Anastasia Dimitropoulos; Ellen A. Doernberg; Rachel A. Gordon; Kerrigan Vargo; Evelyn Nichols; Sandra W. Russ – American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2024
The current study examines the efficacy of an 8-week pretend play intervention targeting social-cognitive abilities in children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), ages 6-9. PWS is a rare disorder associated with various social, emotional, and cognitive challenges linked to pretend play impairments, and for which interventions are sparse. Nineteen…
Descriptors: Genetic Disorders, Developmental Disabilities, Obesity, Intellectual Disability
Brian Stone – International Journal of the Whole Child, 2024
Early experiences in STEM education can contribute to positive cognitive development in young children. When students have the opportunities to play, inquire, follow their interests/curiosities, develop STEM identities, be creative, and operate within concrete/contextualized STEM explorations, they will experience expansive cognitive growth.…
Descriptors: Early Childhood Education, STEM Education, Child Development, Cognitive Development
Zachariou, Antonia; Bonneville-Roussy, Arielle; Hargreaves, David; Neokleous, Rania – Metacognition and Learning, 2023
Self-regulation and metacognition are important for lifelong functioning and can be strengthened with intervention at a young age. Research proposes that musical play enables self-regulatory development, but lacks rigorous approaches to investigate whether a causal relationship between the two exists. We introduced a musical play intervention in a…
Descriptors: Self Management, Metacognition, Music, Play
Junqing Zhai; Simone Miranda Blom; Justin Dillon; Shanghao Wu; Xiaomei Yan – Environmental Education Research, 2025
Engagement with nature is crucial for child development and kindergarten educators' pedagogical beliefs about nature play significantly affect children's access to and experiences of nature in kindergarten. This study examines the role of nature play in children's holistic development, engaging 12 Chinese kindergarten educators through in-depth…
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Play, Kindergarten, Preschool Teachers
Mei-Ying Liao; Lee-Chen Chen; Po-Ya Huang – Early Childhood Education Journal, 2025
The aim of this study was to explore the use of in-between spaces to create music environments in a preschool setting. The research method was a 1.5-year case study of a preschool in northern Taiwan, focusing on innovative music environment creation in the in-between space. The implementation process was divided into three stages: exploration,…
Descriptors: Music Education, Preschool Education, Preschool Children, Classroom Environment
