During the COVID-19 pandemic, kindergartens in Hong Kong have sought ways in which to support children's learning at home while schools were closed. We report on a proof-of-concept study: short videos intended to support playful learning at home were distributed to parents/caregivers of preschool children via a smartphone app; toys and a storybook…

This study is the first to systematically investigate the extent to which apps for children aged 0-5 foster play and creativity. There is growing evidence of children's use of tablets, but limited knowledge of the use of apps by children of children of this age. This ESRC-funded study undertook research that identified how UK children aged from 0…

Advances in technology have seen a proliferation of touch-screen interfaces available to young children. These screens have changed the way in which young children engage with digital technology; with increased exposure and use, it raises debates about the suitability of integrating digital technology within early childhood settings. There are…

This study builds on and contributes to research on digital play with young children. Previous research has examined digital play from different viewpoints, but no studies have specifically addressed young children's perspectives as they interact with applications (apps) that have been designed specifically for their age group. While our review of…

Research Findings: Digital play is now commonplace in many young children's lives, but not in preschool settings. This situation is likely due to the fact that the existent literature seldom highlights what digital play looks like, the various ways it can be situated, and what young children do when they play together with digital devices in the…

Background: The study reported in this article focuses on an exploration of the role and nature of play in young children's use of toys that connect physical and digital domains. Purpose: The purpose of the article is to explore the nature of the connections that are made in play that transverses physical and virtual domains. The article draws on…

The growth of kids' brain could be optimized by recognizing something. Learning to recognize animals is one of the methods to stimulate the children's brain growth to imagine. Nevertheless, kids tend to spend all their time by playing and could not focus to recognize the animals due to the way of learning which is usually not interactive and not…

This article examines the digital literacy practices that emerge when young children play together with digital apps on touchscreen devices. Children's collaborative composing with a digital puppetry app on a touchscreen--with many hands all busy dragging, resizing, and animating puppet characters, and many voices making sound effects, narrating,…

This study explores the themes in the talk of two mothers and daughters as they share a self-created story with an iPad app. Vygotsky's theory of learning is applied to inform a thematic analysis and help interpret the learning potential within the observed parent-child exchanges. A deductive-inductive thematic analysis identified three recurring…

This study reports on the effects of a mobile game designed in conjunction with an art museum to develop children's understanding of line, shape, and color. Four researchers (two graduate students and two professors at a private university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States) examined 8 children, ages 6 to 13, for conceptual change in…