Many studies have found that a majority of boys and girls prefer to play with toys that are typed to their own gender but there is still uncertainty about the age at which such sex differences first appear, and under what conditions. Applying a standardized research protocol and using a selection of gender-typed toys, we observed the toy…

This research documents the use of digital media by young children in outdoor play spaces. The research was conducted at a child care center on an urban university campus in the southeastern USA. The research employed a participatory design and used a qualitative, reflexive approach to include the child's voice, ideas, and understandings of their…

Drawing on our documentation of transforming an informal learning centre (the Playhouse) in a multilingual, working-class neighbourhood, this paper presents significant and deliberate material-discursive changes at the Playhouse that produced unpredictable shifts in belongings among young children. More specifically, this paper entwines our…

This article discusses the idea of intra-generational education. Drawing on Braidotti's nomadic subject and Barad's conception of agency, we consider what intra-generational education might look like ontologically, in the light of critical posthumanism, in terms of natureculture world, nomadism and a vibrant indeterminacy of knowing subjects. In…

Nearly a century of psychological research and recent advances in neuropsychology suggest that there is a "learning to learn" stage in early childhood, during which children need to create the foundations of human cognition, which relies upon the ability to logically categorise incoming information. Mid-twentieth-century psychologists…

Play areas contain objects that fascinate young children. This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. This month's issue uses children's interest in collecting outdoor objects to develop their number sense and to build their understanding of math concepts.

A group of 46, first-year, primarily classically trained, undergraduate students took part in an exploratory research study on Group Ear Playing (GEP) in higher education. The students attended the "Playing by Ear" component of the Practical Musicianship module, which adopts the materials and strategies on playing by ear in the…

This study investigated the moderating effect of gender on the causal relationships between different school play activities (pretend and non-pretend play) and social competence in peer interactions among a sample of Hong Kong children. Participants were 60 Hong Kong preschoolers (mean age = 5.44, 36.67% female). Children with matched home pretend…

Play and learning in the outdoors have been long-standing features of early years care and education. Unfortunately, children around the world no longer have sufficient opportunities for outdoor play for a variety of reasons. In the United Arab Emirates, climatic constraints limit outdoor play for 6 months of the year. One group of preservice…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the Penn Interactive Peer Play (PIPPS-HK) and the Preschool Play Behavior Scale (PPBS-HK) to establish concurrent validity of both scales. A total of 1,622 children age 3 to 6 and 152 teachers in 10 kindergartens (about 160 students and 15 teachers randomly selected from each…

We know it is important to help students to critically engage with texts like books and movies. We want them to become skilled at questioning what's in front of them, and understand how texts are constructed, and whose interests are served. We also need to develop their critical literacy as they interact with games. So, how can we help them do…

As a result of globalization, kindergarten curriculum frameworks in Asia have been strongly influenced by Western theories, pedagogies, and values. In this article, we argue that Singapore's "Nurturing Early Learners" and Hong Kong's "Kindergarten Education Curriculum Guide" present key notions that are inconsistent with…

Teaching English in a classroom setting where EFL learners were usually sitting at desks and doing English learning tasks using paper and pencil is inefficient. It has considerable potential problems that could lead to students learning in a passive state. More specifically, the teaching materials are inconsistent with students' authentic…

Teaching digital literacies as social practices is challenging for many English as an Additional Language (EAL) practitioners. There is not much research that offers effective approaches and specific examples. Drawing on the '3D' model (Green [2002]. "A Literacy Project of Our Own." "English in Australia" 134: 25-32), this…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a peer-mediated LEGO® play intervention on improving social skills for children with ASD in an inclusive preschool in China. Three boys with ASD and 13 typically developing children participated in this study. A multiple-probe across participants design was used. The intervention consisted of…