The purpose of this study was to determine what types of play ensure stable progress in executive functions in preschoolers. Experimental design included six study groups according to the type of play: role play (Free Play group, Adult-Directed Play group, Child-Directed Play group), play with rules, digital play, and control group. All groups…

The present study examines the effectiveness of play therapy (based on the cognitive-behavioural approach) and puppet play therapy in expressive\ receptive language disorders of the studied population. Here, we imported 45 female bilingual preschool children to our research. Their expressive\ receptive language disorders have been approved…

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…

Government guidelines are demanding greater educational outcomes and intentional teaching in Australian preschools. The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study of how children incorporate concepts into child-initiated play. A cohort of 18 children (aged 3.0-5.8, mean age of 4.8) were digitally observed over seven weeks…

The purpose of this article was to re-examine the empirical research focused on the creation and recreation of pre-school teachers' identity and their practices with multilingual children and language development. The analysis was based on empirical sequences from previously published qualitative analyses with the assistance of an interactionist…

Using data from a 2-year empirical project in an urban school within the United States, this article describes how educators of preschool, transitional-kindergarten and kindergarten (PreK-TK-K) altered perceptions and practices as a result of participating in a purposefully crafted professional learning community using collaborative enquiry.…

This transnational comparative study between Costa Rica and the United States provides an in-depth understanding of the similarities and differences of the early literacy practices of educators in the Pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten classroom settings. Drawing upon Costa Rica's curricular approach to Early Childhood Education, based upon the…

This study investigated whether two educational strategies, providing material and active adult support during play, promote pretend play quality in a group of preschoolers. The sample consisted of 101 preschoolers (50% females; mean age at t1= 43.02 months, SD= 5.94) from 14 Swiss educational play groups. These were randomly allocated to the…

Pretend play is common in childhood. Yet by age 4, children shown pretend and real activities in a book said they would choose to do the real activity over the pretend one. The present studies extended this research, examining children's actual behavior in laboratory and school settings (Study 1, n = 32, M = 59.32 months; and Study 2, n = 16, M…

Here the authors explore everyday teaching strategies that work to implement early childhood curriculum frameworks, using published transcripts of video-recorded data of real-life teacher-child interactions in early childhood centres in Australia and New Zealand. The analysis uses a conversation analysis approach to reveal the sequences of action…

There is increasing recognition of digital childhoods [Danby, S., Fleer, M., Davidson, C., & Hatzigianni, M. (Eds.). (2018). "Digital childhood." Amsterdam: Springer] and a corresponding body of research into young child's engagement with digital devices across a broad range of contexts [Marsh, J. A., Plowman, L., Yamada-Rice, D.,…

Many Pre-K through grade 12 (PK-12) students have experienced traumatic events throughout the pandemic in a myriad of ways including the death of family members and peers, loss of social interaction and increased violence at home. The consequences can be traumatic and manifest themselves in fear, anxiety, anger, isolation, and loneliness. Too…

Social interactions at the playground have been represented as a rich learning opportunity to hone and master social skills at preschool years. Specifically, all forms of social play (fantasy, role, exercise or rough-and-tumble) have been related to children's social competence. The main goal of this study was to examine whether it is a certain…

This study attempted to evaluate the views of senior preservice preschool teachers on the efficacy of drama activities in their field experience in terms of the effect of students' learning, socialization, individual or group work skills and school connectedness and also disclosed the suggestions of senior preservice preschool teachers for faculty…

Early years of a child, especially during Early Childhood Education (ECE), is a critical period facilitating the formation of gender identity and stereotypes, which could affect the appropriate development of a child. Yet, to date, most studies on gender and pedagogy in ECE have been done outside Africa, and so far none in Kenya. The aim of this…