Japanese teachers consider clean-up time to be the group's responsibility, and they rely on the use of music and encouragement to make clean-up time an appealing activity. The children's positive feelings also may be partially explained by the fact that teachers consider clean-up time to be an extension of play, saving toys and activities for the…

This paper considers utilising the sociocultural concept of learning activity to understand parents' learning about young children's play in the context of community playgroups and social media use. Parents' knowledge about children's play influences the provision of parental-provided play experiences for young children and can be enhanced through…

This paper identifies the shared features of provision in exemplar school playgroups defined using the social capital concepts of bonding and bridging relationships. Relationships promote capabilities amongst people, with play a known capability for advancing children's developmental and educational outcomes. By attending to the bonding and…

This paper explores the experiences of twelve children and their parents from diverse minority ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds during their first school year. Drawing on sociological and educational conceptualisations of resilience, findings highlight protective factors for children's resilience at four levels, including family and school…

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…

The engagement and adult and peer interaction of 37 young children with a range of disabilities was measured in free play, group, and meal-routine activities in inclusive childcare settings. A significant effect for activity type was found for total engagement, active engagement, and passive engagement, with the children being more engaged in…

Teacher talk is a powerful classroom tool. Studies document the importance of teacher language in children's development, in early literacy development, in children's perceptions of self and others, and in facilitating play. This article examines "teacher talk" and its elements--kinds of language, functions of language, promoting children's…

This paper examines some personal and interpersonal issues concerning group work and informal learning in the music classroom. It analyses data from a recent research project, which adopted and adapted the informal music learning practices of popular musicians, for use in the classroom. The discussion focuses on three aspects of the project.…

Sustaining attention and successfully engaging with others in collaborative play are important accomplishments focused on in preschool classrooms and childcarecenters. In addition, music is frequently used in early childhood classrooms, and even recommended as an environmental feature to motivate and regulate children's behavior. Although pretend…

Discusses the significance of play in culture; quotes an old proverb "a lesson taught with an entertaining facet is a lesson retained." Presents 13 children's games that are currently being used in management-training and development programs. Describes the purpose, activity, preparation and debriefing involved for each game. (Author/AEF)