This paper draws on a three-year ethnographic study during which we investigated young children's cultural development in a Brazilian early childhood centre. A cultural-historical approach was used to understand the concept of autonomy. We focus on Danilo, a very young child who overcame his fear of using a play slide (a cultural artefact). We…

This article examines the processes of participation of children living in the Bajau Laut sea gypsies community in daily life activities. The subject of the study, the Bajau Laut, is one of the last sea nomadic communities. This research is planned as a case study which is one of the qualitative research methods. The data of this research were…

School recess as a valued component of school life is under challenge. The present study aims to investigate the pupils' perspectives about the role and the meaning of play during school recess recognising the role of the children as agents in their own development and considering play as a socio-cultural activity undertaken, developed and…

This article draws on a small survey of Auckland-area early childhood services to explore "tree climbing as curriculum". As well as considering how health and safety issues are understood and managed, it also considers the role/s of early childhood teachers during children's tree climbing, alongside the relevance of folk wisdom about…

This article engages with Bourdieu's notion of field as a "space of play" to explore what happens to the educational field and the linguistic regimes operating within it in a site in which new discourses and practices of identity, language, "race", and ethnicity become entangled with local economies of meaning. The context is a…

Research Findings: This study explored the relationship between play and child development at the Grade 1 level. As previous research has noted a sudden curtailment of classroom play during this period, the relationship between play at home and children's school grades, behavior, and creativity scores was examined using correlational and…

Early childhood programs strive to provide good-quality care and education as young children develop their physical, emotional, social, and intellectual skills. In order to provide children with positive, developmentally appropriate learning opportunities, educators ensure the safety and security of children, indoors and outdoors. The outdoor…

Over the last decade, awareness about the changing nature of children's play has gradually increased, leading to some concerns that outdoor play, particularly unstructured outdoor play, is rapidly declining. Reasons for these changes are diverse and multilayered, rooted in ever-evolving sets of social and parental expectations and the children's…

The role of play in human development has long been the subject of controversy. Despite being championed by many of the foremost scholars of the twentieth century, play has been dogged by underrepresentation and marginalization in literature across the scientific disciplines. "The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Play" marks the first attempt…

Joe L. Frost is Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas, Austin, and one of America's leading experts on play and playgrounds. In addition to having taught child development and early childhood education at Texas and several other universities, he has written or edited fifteen university-level textbooks and more than one…

This book examines the history and purpose of outdoor play areas. Chapter 1 of the book discusses the importance of play in children's lives and the role of playgrounds in the play process. The historical development and evolution of playgrounds is recounted in chapter 2, while chapter 3 reviews research on playgrounds, including research…

A lot of learning that takes place outside the classroom occurs in the games children play. Author shows how one primary school made use of this traditional folk art. (Editor/RK)

Cites research which suggests that U.S. playgrounds are hazardous and developmentally sterile. Factors that affect the relationship of playgrounds to child development include (1) the developmental appropriateness of playground environments; (2) gender differences in outdoor play; (3) well-equipped play environments; (4) the use of portable play…

The article stresses the importance of play and playgrounds for children's social, physical, and psychological development. It presents data from a national survey of the status and design of play equipment at elementary schools, suggests ways of making equipment safer, and offers basic principles of play center design. (CB)

This report reviews a practicum designed to study and address problems of the physical play environment of a preschool which served children of 2 to 5 years. The goals of the practicum were to: (1) increase the amount of time children spent in physical play activities; (2) enhance the play environment by the addition of at least 10 pieces of…