This issue explores the nature of childhood by offering selections that re/imagine the idea of the child as art maker; inquire about the relationships between children and adults when they are making art; and investigate how physical space influences approaches to art instruction. Readers are invited to join a dialogue that questions long-standing…

The Maryland-Minnesota Child Care Research Partnership brought together two states committed to examining critical issues in early care and education and using research findings to inform policy with an interdisciplinary team of researchers experienced in conducting studies on (1) subsidy policy; (2) quality improvement strategies; and (3)…

Decades of research have identified features of classrooms and teachers' talk that are associated with children's language growth. Unfortunately, much of this work has not yet translated to widespread practice in early childhood classrooms. Given the important contributions that early language development makes to later academic achievement,…

Transactional relations between children's positive social interaction skills, school engagement, and academic achievement were examined using a longitudinal panel model across the transition from preschool to first grade. Participants were Head Start children (N = 241; 49% girls, M age = 53 months, range 45-60); 78% were Mexican/Mexican-American;…

The present study investigated the developmental interrelationships between play, gesture use and spoken language development in children aged 18-31 months. The children completed two tasks: (i) a structured measure of pretend (or "symbolic") play and (ii) a measure of vocabulary knowledge in which children have been shown to gesture.…

This small scale research project examines opportunities for creative thinking and imagination through den making in a rural private day nursery with its own woodland area on the borders of England and Wales in the UK. The research is underpinned by sociocultural theory and is an ethnographic study of non-participant observations of children aged…

Early childhood development (ECD) has gained substantial recognition in South Africa (SA) as a key issue to be addressed, but inequities and deficits remain evident, despite progressive policy and widespread effort by a range of role players in the non-governmental sector. ECD in SA requires far more attention if these are to be rectified, and…

While there has been extensive research exploring the quality of caregiver-child interactions in programmes for preschool children, comparatively less international research has explored the nature of caregiver-child interactions in centre-based infant-care programmes. Nine caregivers in six Singapore infant-care settings were observed and…

Inadequate physical activity increases the risks related to a number of health problems in children, most notably obesity and the corresponding range of associated health problems. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a functional analysis to investigate the effects of several consequent variables on moderate-to-vigorous physical…

Early intervention activities for very young disabled children are frequently linked to developmental targets and goals. A key challenge for parents and practitioners involved in early intervention programmes is to encourage their child to play and develop creatively through enjoyable, everyday childhood experiences. This paper reports on a…

This paper reports the results of risk reframing, an intervention to offer parents and educators a context for building new and complex perceptions of risk in children's outdoor free play. Our objective was to alter these adults' perceptions of risk to increase the sustainability of an innovative child-centred playground intervention. Qualitative…

Dada, an art movement that became well known in the late 1910s and early 1920s, challenged traditional notions of art and aesthetics. Dada artists, for example, tossed colored scraps of paper into the air to compose chance-based collages, performed sound poems devoid of semantic value, and modeled a headpiece fashioned of sardine cans. To most art…

Objective: The "DSM-IV-TR" specifies 12 behavioral features that can occur in hundreds of possible combinations to meet diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This paper describes the frequency and variability with which the 12 behavioral features are documented in a population-based cohort of 8-year-old children under…

Social factors in the classroom (such as interactions with peers and teachers, talk, observation of others, and presence of peers and teachers) influence engagement, but little is known about the sequence or timing of these social factors with engagement. In this observational study of 12 preschoolers, ages 2-5 years, the influence of the timing…

This study attempts to enhance the understanding of a music curriculum that represents holistic and meaningful learning for young children at a developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) classroom in Taiwan. The study participant implementing DAP was selected through purposive sampling by the Classroom Practice Inventory and pilot study. A…