Research suggests that improving executive function (EF) skills using mindfulness-based interventions is promising, though few studies investigate mindfulness-based interventions for young children. The current study evaluated preliminary data examining EF over the course of a 12-week mindfulness-based curriculum implemented within preschool…

The increasing prevalence of children's attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and internalizing behaviors requires investigation into putative risk factors. This longitudinal project of 105 preschoolers (54.3% girls; 90% White) examined influences of early life experiences (perinatal stressors, home environment, maternal personality) and…

School-age children need safe, supervised places to learn and grow during non-school hours while their parents and caregivers work. Beyond providing safety and supervision, participation in high-quality school-age child care programs offered before or after school, or during the summer, is associated with positive developmental outcomes for young…

The present study aims to differentiate groups of children and early adolescents characterized by their motivations for social withdrawal and personal experiences with solitude. Participants were N = 561 (307 girls) children and early adolescents, aged 8-14 years (M = 11.32, SD = 1.63), who completed self-report assessments of motivations for…

Our main objective was to analyze the role of imageability in relation to the age of acquisition (AoA) of nouns and verbs in Spanish-speaking children with Down syndrome (DS) and their peers with typical development (TD). The AoA of nouns and verbs was determined using the MacArthur-Bates CDIs adapted to the profile of children with DS. The AoA…

Preschoolers' language abilities are associated with their social interactions in early childhood classrooms. Few studies, however, have examined associations between social interactions and objective measures of children's real-time classroom language environments, information key to informing interventions to support preschool children at risk…

This paper follows an earlier report of young children's object play activities investigated in a cross-sectional sample of 289 typically developing children. Thirty-minute videotaped observations were taken of children at 8, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, and 60 months of age in their homes. Forty-nine percent were boys. Children were identified…

This article addresses the disturbing fact that few contemporary Chilean children's books deal with Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship (1973-1990). It explores why dictatorship has such an elusive presence in contemporary Chilean children's literature, how it has been represented in general, and how children are portrayed in books that do address…

This study examined parent-child storytelling for insights into children's fantastical thinking. We targeted differences in storytelling based on story genre (fictional-reality and fictional-fantasy) emotion, and storyteller, and how dyads treated fantasy within the stories. 49 3- to 5-year-olds and their parents told stories based on images that…

In Hong Kong, play-based learning has been highlighted in the latest curriculum guide in 2017. While adopting 'child-centredness' as the core value of kindergarten education can enrich children's play experiences. However, little emphasis has been placed on how young children perceive play-based learning in the classroom. The aim of this…

Early childhood is a critical process that plays a key role in the shaping of individuals, and therefore, societies. Important duties fall to parents so that this process can be managed successfully. Parents directly or indirectly relay their attitudes toward many topics not only with their childrearing attitudes but also through the interaction…

This research examined whether parents can recognize modified brands in children's programming, and whether program educational value and active mediation intention would moderate perceptions of modified brand references. An experiment was conducted with 109 parents of child(ren) between 3-6 years old. Participants watched clips that…

The international quality-improvement agenda for Early Childhood Education (ECE) directs attention to maximising children's learning experiences. Yet routines, and particularly those relating to sleep-rest provision, are not well conceptualised as learning opportunities. Often children who no longer sleep in the daytime are required to lie down…

Play is a central discourse in policy and practice pertaining to young children's learning, development and well-being in many countries around the world. Dominant ways of understanding and advocating for play often construct universalising notions of children and childhood, overlooking that play is always-already culturally situated and…

Research has shown that book ownership has a significant impact on life outcomes. In 2019, we found that that children who reported that they had a book of their own were not only more engaged with reading but also six times more likely to read above the level expected for their age than children who did not own a book (22% vs. 3.6%). We included…