The benefits of social play and social interactions have been accepted for children with special needs attending inclusive kindergarten education. This study aims to examine social play and social interaction of a child with autism spectrum disorder in the inclusive kindergarten education. Social play observation form, social interaction…

Creativity is a vital topic of various educational discourses, yet the support it receives within the school system is insufficient. This chapter focuses on four particular ways of making creativity more democratized, salient, and accessible in school settings. We start by exploring the educational benefits of egalitarian theoretical approaches to…

Research indicates that mathematical understanding before formal schooling influences later attainment. This study investigated the mathematical activities of preschool-aged children in Japan, a neglected topic despite the high mathematical attainment of Japanese children. Preschool activities were investigated using surveys, observations, and…

The term "active learning" is used in a variety of educational contexts. As described in this guide, however, it refers to an instructional approach developed by Lilli Nielsen--a Danish psychologist--for promoting the learning and development of children who have significant support needs. Nielsen's Active Learning involves a range of…

The objective of this study was to examine in what ways and to what extent preschoolers (5-6 years of age) manifest early Engineering Habits of Mind (EHoM) while engaging in an open-ended problem-solving construction task. The study comprised 228 children (120 boys and 108 girls). The study implemented a quantitative approach. The main research…

Several aspects of the indoor early childhood education (ECE) environment may be associated with physical activity (PA), including indoor areas. Modifying the indoor physical environment in classrooms could have significant potential to influence PA in young children. However, to our knowledge, PA promotion interventions involving changes to the…

Outdoor risky play provides developmental and health benefits for children, such as risk-assessment skills, increased physical activity and well-being and promoting social competencies and resilience. Modern Western society is highly risk-averse and many children are protected from risks more commonly experienced by previous generations. Forest…

Friedrich Froebel is well-known for the invention of kindergarten and the pioneering educational philosophy he developed in the 1800s, which respected children's self activity and women's capabilities for the role of teacher, while promoting play as the primary medium for learning. His radical ideas and principled approach to early childhood…

In this research, the playfulness of 4- and 5-years-old 181 children, 100 boys and 81 girls, attending a kindergarten in Turkey, was examined. The research was designed according to relational-correlational survey/research model, one of the quantitative research methods; the data were collected using Personal Information Form and Children's…

Children's food preferences are strongly associated with their consumption patterns. Children tend to choose foods with which they are familiar. It is proposed that the earlier and broader the experience with food, the healthier the child's or adult´s diet. In a focus group we developed a toolkit consisting of a training course for kindergarten…

Street children are often constructed as fragile individuals who lose their innocent childhood since they have to work and do not have the opportunity to play like most of their peers. Using Bourdieu's concept of field, capital and habitus, this article seeks to go beyond the existing notion of play by exploring how street children in Bandung,…

The mobility of peoples and their settlement in our country has created a new dynamic in dealing with population groups with particular linguistic, cultural and social characteristics. At the same time, it brought to the fore the case of the Roma, who have been active in Greece for decades without being fully integrated into the social and…

This practical guide for educational leaders explores how you can transform your school or district into a vibrant center of learning and socio-ecological responsibility with only three manageable actions: taking students outside, bringing nature inside, and cultivating a mindset of awareness, responsibility, and empathy. This book is rich in…

Recent findings from the Kids Activity and Learning Study complement North Carolina's multidimensional approach to promoting school readiness by emphasizing the integrated nature of motor and cognitive development in early childhood. Children whose motor skills improved the most over the course of an academic year also tended to demonstrate the…

The chapter is a reflective discussion of an educator who has made efforts to incorporate heritage language practice in child play in the real-world everyday setting of early childhood education. This combination between heritage language and child play has hardly been explored before in the relevant discourse. As children in Australia possess…