Discover why school readiness IS children's play. This updated guide includes timely research and new stories that highlight how play is vital to the social, physical, cognitive, and spiritual development of children. Learn the seven things we must do with children every day and why they are so important. Use your daily observations to incorporate…

This study sought to gain insight into how Ontario teachers define play-based learning, and how their perspectives affect its implementation in kindergarten classrooms. Using survey data from kindergarten teachers from around the province of Ontario, two definitions of play were developed: one focused on social development through play and the…

The topic of play and development has been of immense importance and controversy in early education and child development field throughout the twentieth century and into the present decade. The trend of current early education is to introduce academics sooner for younger students in order for programs to remain competitive and have parents choose…

This study explored Japanese day nursery and kindergarten teachers' beliefs and practices regarding developmentally appropriate practices. Data were collected using in-depth interviews. Teacher interviews provided insights into the merger of the childcare and education systems of Japan. Six themes emerged from the analysis of the day nursery and…

As in many Western countries, children's learning in the curriculum of Estonian Early Childhood Education is seen as a lifelong process, wherein the teacher is primarily a guide to children's active learning. Thus, a child-centred approach to learning is valued in the national curriculum, but our interest was whether this approach is fixed in the…

Background: Media culture touches most aspects of the lives of children growing up today, beginning at the earliest ages. It is profoundly the lessons children learn as well as how they learn, thereby contributing to what this article characterizes as "remote control childhood." Educators need to understand remote control childhood so…

Recognizing that for young children, play is a tool for learning, this book compiles contributions by different authors, reflecting both up-to-date research and current classroom practice as they relate to children's play. Part 1 of the book explores the value of play as a cross-cultural concept as well as one rooted in the Western world. Gender…

The value and function of play behavior in young children, and the process and conditions by which play contributes to learning, cognition and problem solving, are explored in this literature review. The first section examines early theories of play, the psychoanalytic theory of play, and the developmental stages of play. Common elements of play…

This paper, a discussion of papers by Robert S. Randall, Greta Fein, Richard Bauman and Murray Newman, looks at informal learning from an anthropological viewpoint with an emphasis on inversive theory. It is suggested that the irrational elements of informal learning, the combinations of order and disorder, allow children to relate to reality by…

Discusses how unit building blocks can be used to enhance five major interrelated aspects of child learning, namely, physical, emotional, social, intellectual (cognitive), and intuitive development. Also presents six ways to encourage good block playing among children. (BB)

L. S. Vygotsky's book "Mind in Society" was published more than 50 years ago in Russia, but it is now being recognized as relevant to contemporary research in child development because of the areas of investigation that he suggested. Vygotsky views children as active participants in their own learning and suggests that researchers…

Learning in infancy is based on activity, beginnings, and curiosity, the so-called ABC's. Earliest behavior consists of mass activity, the period from birth to 24 months of sensory-motor development which provides the foundation for all future learning. Adults must provide space, toys, and affectionate care to help infants proceed through…

A Piagetian preschool emphasizes the child's active construction of mental images rather than passive association of words and pictures with real objects. The role of the teacher is neither to dictate good behavior nor to transmit ready-made predigested knowledge. Her role is to help the child to control his own behavior and to find things out as…

Examined the role of pretend play interactions in stimulating social and emotional competence by comparing the quality of pretend and nonpretend social play. Found that pretend play involved more complex, mutually responsive, and emotionally invested social interaction than nonpretend play. Expression of psychosocial issues within pretense was…

Since 5-year-olds are in the "preoperational" stage of development, they think differently from older children and adults. This means teachers should be encouraged to interact differently with younger kids. The importance of creating developmentally appropriate programs stressing playing and talking is discussed. (MLH)