There is more to know about children's play and learning in public spaces, including the long-term benefits of exposure to established play spaces such as children's museums. Nested within an 18-month mixed-method longitudinal study, this qualitative descriptive study sought to understand how children aged three to five years develop and learn…

The purpose of this study was to describe how experienced emergent writing teachers supported 4-year-olds in writing their own messages during the learning centers period of the preschool day. Data were drawn from two, year-long qualitative studies of early writing instruction. Adult participants were three researcher-teachers who worked in…

The early childhood sector in New Zealand has a long-held tradition of free play and child-led pedagogy, influencing visual arts approaches with young children. However, alongside learning through play, New Zealand's sociocultural curriculum highlights the active role of the teacher and intentional pedagogy. This article explores the practices and…

The aim of the study sought to examine the impact of teacher's creativity on the creative development of early childhood learners. In providing a clear justification to the purpose of the study, the qualitative research approach and the case study as the research design. The target population for the study was all the lower primary teachers in…

The research note discusses various classroom observation tools used in early childhood classrooms and the degree to which they capture the facilitation of playful learning. We note that while all tools capture some aspects of play facilitation especially the preconditions for play, few tools directly measure techniques that solely facilitate…

JASP-EMT, the combined Enhanced Milieu Teaching (EMT) and Joint Attention, Structured Play, and Emotion Regulation (JASPER) interventions, has been found to be effective for promoting social communication in young children with autism (Kasari et al. in J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 53(6):635-646, 2014). The current study examined the effects…

The individual's learning process begins with birth and continues with discoveries in the living spaces. The curiosity-driven learning process is the basis of cognitive development, and nowadays, much research is being done to understand this development field. Determining the focal point of research on cognitive development in preschool in Turkey…

This study investigated whether two educational strategies, providing material and active adult support during play, promote pretend play quality in a group of preschoolers. The sample consisted of 101 preschoolers (50% females; mean age at t1= 43.02 months, SD= 5.94) from 14 Swiss educational play groups. These were randomly allocated to the…

The purpose of this essay is to propose a manifesto of young children's rights in the early childhood classroom based on Vivian Paley's many formal classroom investigations into children's thinking, learning, and social emotional development. Analysis establishes, first, Paley's license to speak for young children by positioning her in the only…

The purpose of this study was to design a community-based, needs-sensitive, and culturally appropriate parenting education program that is effective for rural Malawian caregivers. With the use of the five-stage model, qualitative methods and procedures were used for developing the program. The presented program emphasized securing sustainability…

This study examined whether associations exist between PA intensity, self-regulation, and indicators of school readiness, a proxy for academic achievement, in young children. Thirty young children completed assessments of physical activity, school readiness indicators, and self-regulation. Physical activity intensity was classified as light,…

In discussions about how to implement learning through/in/at play, there is still not a commonly agreed view. This qualitative study investigated Chinese teachers' and parents' perspectives on learning in play to attain a co-constructed picture of learning in play through real classroom practices and perceptions using the Mosaic approach. Fourteen…

Child care quality in general, and caregiver-child interactions in particular, are salient predictors of children's outcomes. While the importance of process quality is well known, the complex relations between structural quality and process quality are far less researched in family child care, compared to centre based child care. Flanders shows…

Worldwide, millions of children have missed out on early childhood education and care (ECEC) due to the closure of their settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about the socio-emotional impact of these closures on young children. This paper draws upon a study of 506 parents of children aged 1-10 years in Ireland who…

The development of racial awareness begins in infancy, continues throughout early childhood, and can shape play behaviors. The present study is a case study in a US pre-kindergarten classroom. The study aimed to examine the ways in which ideas about race and gender manifested within doll play. Participants included two 4-year-old Black girls,…