Photographs constitute an important visual language in contemporary Swedish preschool, as they are legible to young children themselves. This article aims to examine which notions of the child are represented in preschool photographs, and how these notions correlate to notions of the child expressed in the Swedish preschool curriculum. The…

This paper provides a discourse analysis of 12 Swedish sexuality education texts intended for preschool practitioners and published between 1969 and 2021. Using Fairclough's framework, we identify three discourses about children's sexual play in relation to children's sexual agency in the texts: child sexuality as encouraged and entangled with…

In recent decades, refugee immigration has had significant impact on educational contexts in Sweden, with preschools the primary arenas for young children's language learning experiences. The present study examines second language and literacy training practices for immigrant children (aged 1-5) in preschools in Sweden. The empirical data consist…

Digital devices such as iPads are prevalent in children's play from an early age. How this shapes young children's play is an area of considerable debate without any clear consensus on how different forms of play are brought into the iPad interaction. In this study, we examined 98 play activities of children in two preschool settings, featuring 2…

Preschool, understood as being both a physical and psychological environment, is, according to objectives in national curriculum, required to be inclusive for all those who attend it. Previous studies have identified the stereotypical norms of several everyday activities of preschools, including both interactions and premises. The aim of this…

The research examines the concepts of 'friendship' and 'best friend' among preschool children (n=52) who live in different countries (Sweden and Turkey), with the aim of presenting their ideas about the concepts of 'friendship' and 'best friend'. For this purpose, 52 children, 4-5 year olds (25 from Turkey and 27 from Sweden) participated in…

A substantial body of research highlights the value of nature experience in supporting children's well-being and development. Given the growing interest in connectedness to nature (C2N), a better understanding of C2N measurement provides multiple opportunities, including consideration of the use of tools for research purposes and practitioner…

How preschool teachers and children spend their time in preschool sets the stage for child engagement and learning. To describe characteristics of environments and activities and to compare child engagement in indoor and outdoor free play, systematic observations of children and teachers were performed in 78 Swedish preschool units. Results showed…

Play and peer interactions are crucial for children's socioemotional development and growth. However, children with special needs, disabilities, and developmental delays may not participate in play with peers as much as typically developing children. Reliable and valid assessment information of children's social behavior is necessary to design…

This study aims to explore profiles of preschool teachers' intentions when they divide the children into subgroups. Interactionist perspectives, Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, and a pedagogical perspective on preschool quality provide the foundation for the study's theoretical framework. By applying a person-centered analytical…

This article is based on a meta-approach to the results of two separate studies and concerns the areas of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics) in early childhood education. One of the studies focuses on how preschool teachers understand STEM and how it is taught in the…

In preschool, numbers and shapes typically appear as separate topics. This study explores how a game, designed as a guided play activity with figurate numbers, functions in a preschool context. The guided play involved parking Lego cars in a rectangular shape, and to find out for which number of Lego cars this is possible. Thirteen preschool…

The Swedish preschools have evolved to be more diverse in terms of language and culture amongst the attending children. Previous research on newly arrived children in the Swedish preschools focusses on, amongst other things, how to provide for the best reception or education, but less is known about the newly arrived children's own communicative…

This article is based on data generated in an ethnographic study of gender in a Swedish preschool. Drawing on Judith Butler's understanding of performativity and (un)doing of gender, a new theoretical concept, "situated decoding of gender," is further developed by showing how the material and spatial dimension of the educational practice…

This study explores how 3-5 year-old children negotiate participation rights during peer play in a preschool in Sweden. The interest is on how they build relations moment-by-moment. I specifically analyze how they negotiate participation rights with a focus on how they include and exclude each other in the ongoing activity. This is an ethnographic…