Little research exists on young children's beliefs about mathematics, and current research perspectives on early mathematical activity may overlook a great deal of young children's sophisticated mathematical thinking. We argue this is attributable, in part, to a need for a broader view of what mathematics is, including cultural practices that are…

Children with disabilities play less often and demonstrate fewer varied pretend play behaviors than children with typical development. A multiple-probe design was used to examine the relation between teachers' use of the system of least prompts and contingent imitation and the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of pretend play and…

Belonging is emerging as an important concept in contemporary early childhood curricula, and calls have recently been made for belonging to be critically interrogated and further theorized. This article explores how belonging was operating for an infant in Australian family day care by looking at an episode that took place between the infant, a…

Research on the role of play coursework in future professionals' integration of play in education is essential in the colleges where future professionals are trained. However, the literature on this topic is very thin. It remains unclear whether college coursework on children's play is related to students' intentions to integrate play in early…

Motor competence and physical activity (PA) patterns are established during the early childhood years. Early childhood education (ECE) settings are an important context for children's engagement in physically active play. This paper reports the findings from an online survey examining resources, spaces and affordances for PA and risk-taking in…

The authors identify competitive speech and debate as a form of play that helped democratize American citizenship for the poor, who used what they learned through the practice to advance their personal social and economic goals. In addition, this competitive activity led to the development of speech communication as an academic discipline and…

Playing and learning mathematics do not have to be mutually exclusive activities, especially in kindergarten. Play and games can give young children opportunities to learn and develop foundational math skills that are aligned with Common Core standards for mathematics through age-appropriate, fun, and engaging activities.

This study aims to investigate the developmental status of rural Chinese children, the extent of interactive parenting they receive, and the relation between the two. A sample of 448 six to eighteen-month-old children and their caregivers were randomly selected from two rural counties in Hebei and Yunnan provinces. According the third edition of…

In 2010, the province of Ontario introduced a new universal two-year play-based full-day kindergarten program. The authors exploited the phasing-in of this program over five years, allowing a natural experiment in which children from full-day kindergarten could be compared with those from half-day kindergarten in matched neighborhoods. Children (N…

In her experience teaching modern dance at a range of institutions, the author has noticed that even as many students exhibit superior physical skill in technique class, most are lacking when it comes to expression. From large university BFA to smaller liberal arts programs, she finds that her students often fall into a land of physical imitation,…

In a study on learning in serious games, 45 players were tested for topic-comprehension by a questionnaire administered before and after solo-playing of the serious game "Peacemaker" (Impact Games 2007), during which their psychophysiological signals were measured. Play lasted for 1 h, with a break at half time. The questionnaire was divided into…

When children play, they often say things such as "you be the mommy" or "I'm the teacher" (Gordon, 2002). Children establish these categories of "mommy" or "teacher" as part of their play sequences, which allow them to play in different roles, and assume adult roles even for just a moment. The work done by…

Physical activity in infancy is essential for early brain development. Development in the early years is the most rapid at any time during life. Monitoring functional movement skills of infants and toddlers frequently (3-week intervals) and quickly (minutes) produces information on whether development is on track or in need of intervention. To…

Participatory research methods argue that young children should be enabled to contribute their perspectives on research seeking to understand their worldviews. Visual research methods, including the use of still and video cameras with young children have been viewed as particularly suited to this aim because cameras have been considered easy and…

Linked activity schedules were used to establish appropriate game play in children with autism during a game of hide-and-seek. All 6 participants demonstrated acquisition of appropriate play skills in the presence of the activity schedules and maintained responding during subsequent phases. When the schedules were removed, responding decreased to…