Playgroups are a unique form of early childhood provision involving parents and their children attending together. Parents' attendance at playgroups provides opportunities for involvement in play. However, little is known about parents' practices of co-play in playgroups and the potential for these practices to enhance children's play experiences…

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…

Farm- and nature-based early childhood education programs have a unique potential to provide young children with skills and experiences that build a strong foundation for future learning and environmental stewardship, but can also to extend positive impacts to families. In this paper, we work to bridge the gap between research and practice by…

The article seeks to explore the relationship between the researcher and children aged from one to three years old. The findings are drawn from a research project in an Icelandic preschool where video recordings were used as the main method. The aim of the research project was to understand children's lived experiences when creating their…

Technology, digital media and popular culture form an important aspect of young children's life-worlds in contemporary post-industrial societies. A problem for early childhood educators is how to most effectively integrate these aspects of children's life-worlds into the provision of play-based learning. Traditionally, research has considered…

Can teachers of young children create stimulating and enriching outdoor environments that are also safe? This article highlights early childhood outdoor safety standards and presents a framework for creating quality and SAFE™ outdoor environments in early childhood programs that support children's interest and best practice. The outdoor…

This study investigated 2- and 3-year-olds' personal interests as a possible source of variation in preschool writing activities. Structured observations of the play behaviors of 11 preschool children in a childcare classroom were conducted one to two days per week for one school year. These data were analyzed to determine choices of play…

Teachers of very young children have the awesome task of providing rich information and experiences that build skills and understanding in the context of every day routines and within intentionally-designed play opportunities that capture children's interests, wonder and curiosity so they want to know more. Pennsylvania's learning standards join…

The 18 preschool teachers in the study tended to agree that preschool education for 4-year-olds should foremost be fun and engaging, not stressful. Teachers should develop curricula based on children's interests and everyday lives, and allow children to choose their activities and to direct their own play and exploration at their own pace. The…