Fuji Kindergarten in Tachikawa, Japan, is an innovative school design. The building itself, designed by Tezuka Architects, is a key part of the children's education. In this article, the architects describe how the project developed and their inspirations and goals for this unique education facility that places children at the center. The spaces…

Forest School in England is the practice of young children playing outside, rooted in the outdoor kindergartens of Scandinavia and more especially Denmark. Using observation and semi-structured interviews with children and adults in two settings, this case study approach allowed an in-depth look at where, how and what children played in a Forest…

As part of a longitudinal study focused on mathematical play, we (Melissa, Amy, and Anita) are often faced with questions about what counts as play and what mathematics (and other learning) we see in play, and whose play is most likely to be seen or dismissed. Rather than discuss our findings from classroom videos of kindergarten children engaged…

This study examines young speakers' language use in the bidialectal context of Cyprus. It focuses on children's language use of their two language varieties, namely Standard Modern Greek and Cypriot Greek, and how they are being socialised to use these two varieties in the classroom environment and at home. The data collected from kindergarten…

Children identified with developmental disabilities or delays (DD) are increasingly being educated in inclusive mainstream classroom environments. At the kindergarten level, there have been pedagogical shifts towards the promotion of play-based learning, with few resources addressing how teachers can support inclusion in play. Forty-two Ontario…

Studies have found a relationship between pretend play and self-regulation both during and outside pretend play; however, very few have investigated these three variables simultaneously. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between the frequency of role-play (a type of pretend play), self-regulatory behaviour during role-play, and…

This paper implements a feminist new material lens to illuminate how the spaces and objects of play are actively involved in the enactment and normalisation of gender violence in kindergarten. Findings from data collected in two Canadian kindergartens show how the familiar and mundane spatial-material arrangements of play, namely the use of…

This study investigated the direct relationship between home play opportunity and prospective school readiness, and the indirect relationships as mediated through object and social mastery motivation among Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children. Participants were 106 local children (44.4% girls, mean age = 60.0 months) and their parents and…

The role of play in early elementary education (K-2) generates dichotomous opinions, and more research is required to support efficacious pedagogical decision-making. This pilot study explored the effects of pedagogical approaches on Title I kindergarten students' executive function (EF) to test the hypothesis that children, especially those from…

Play, of varied type and form, provides opportunities for children to acquire a sense of competence and belonging when engaging in classroom life. The purpose of this study was to investigate ways that the inclusion of play as a curricular component eased academic stressors and supported motivation during the transition to kindergarten. In this…

There is a tendency in European education policy to emphasise more and better deliberate learning outcomes. The tendency is criticised for taking an instrumental view of education [Biesta, G. (2010). Good education in an age of measurement: "Ethics, politics, democracy." Routledge,; van Manen, M. (2008). Pedagogical sensitivity and…

The teaching and learning of design technology that occurs in nature-based early childhood education and care (ECEC) contexts such as nature kindergartens remains under-theorised. There is a growing body of scholarship that describes how teaching and learning occurs in these contexts as well as highlighting the benefits for young children learning…

In 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued "Guidelines for Preschool Education (GPE) (trial version)" to call on early childhood practitioners to use a child-centred and play-based approach to teaching and learning. In order to implement the requirements, many kindergartens in China have carried out the play-based kindergarten…

In this article, the authors argue for a rethinking of kindergarten education from a critical feminist perspective. They illustrate how the devaluation and denigration of femininity and care - otherwise known as femmephobia - that permeates patriarchal societies is present in the seemingly innocent spaces of play in kindergarten. Tracing…

Across geographically diverse samples, engagement in stimulating activities with young children is considered an important element of parenting that promotes cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional development. Indicators of stimulation activities are often summed, based on the assumption that more stimulation is better and that different…