This qualitative study analyzed the language of 24 kindergarten students in the classroom's home center during the first weeks of school. Data were collected through informal interviews with the teacher, audio recordings and field notes taken during observation of children at play in the home center. Analysis of spontaneous conversation began with…

Interviews with professionals, a literature search, and a parent survey indicated that parents of toddlers had a need for knowledge about child development. This lack of knowledge was believed to be one factor in the reported use of non-effective discipline techniques, with the linking factor identified as unrealistic expectations. For this…

Several hypotheses have been generated about the functions of mock aggression, including its association with dominance. This paper describes a study that expanded this line of research by interviewing college students about a broad array of mock aggressive behaviors and their contexts, targets, benefits, and functions. The hypotheses were that:…

This digest examines the value of outdoor experience for young children, reasons for its decline, ways to enhance school play spaces, and aspects of developmentally appropriate outdoor environments. Young children appear to benefit from being outdoors and especially need the broad experiential base provided by being outdoors. The richness and…

Noting that parents can capitalize on the opportunity to enhance their child's brain growth during the first 5 years, this book guides parents in actively promoting the motor, cognitive, and social skills that will enhance their child's readiness for later formal, academic learning. Presented in 4 parts, the book provides more than 75 activities…

The Illinois Early Learning Project (IEL) is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education to provide information resources on early learning and training related to implementing the Illinois Early Learning Standards for parents and for early childhood personnel in all settings. The IEL tip sheets offer suggestions to parents and early childhood…

Based on the view that the quality of adult-child interaction is crucial to children's development and learning in early childhood settings, this guide complements and expands upon the Scottish Office Curriculum Framework for young children and illustrates key aspects of children's learning and development. The guide is designed to be used for…

This study describes and analyzes the peer social world within the Chinese group in a multilingual preschool classroom, focusing on the ways Chinese children organize their interactions with each other and with other ethnic groups and how subcultural group differences are related to peer relationships. Most of the children in this class had peers…

"Empirically Based Play Interventions for Children" is a compilation of innovative, well-designed play interventions, presented for the first time in one text. Play therapy is the oldest and most popular form of child therapy in clinical practice and is widely considered by practitioners to be uniquely responsive to children's developmental needs.…

Examines mothers' and fathers' speech for similarities and differences as expressed in four categories of messages to their preschool daughters and sons: plans, strategies, symbolic play utterances, and extrasituational references. (MP)

Three possibilities through which children find enjoyment in sport are explored: (1) Sport may be considered as play by children; (2) sport may be seen as success-motivating; and (3) children may find sport enjoyable because the activity itself is absorbing. (JN)

Preschool children were observed in a natural setting in order to examine the continuity of their play styles over a period of one year. Changes in play styles appeared to be affected by peer or teacher intervention. In particular, male peer groups effectively shaped male sex-typed behavior even when they engaged in play activities not…