The purpose of this study was to examine the involvement of early childhood pre-service students (PSSs) in children's constructive play and highlight how this involvement supported children's play skills towards advanced play behaviours as seen by previous literature. Drawing from the conceptual framework of the Zone of Proximal Development, as…

This article explores the usefulness of detective role-play as a research method to facilitate young children's critical thinking. The study examines four specifically designed detective play experiences, adopting an ethical rights-based approach to research with children. This qualitative multiple-case study is grounded in play-based pedagogy…

Using a content analysis method, this study develops a culturally based inventory of play categories from parents and children reports and explores how such types of play varies in environment and time. A total of 171 parent-child dyads from 13 Hong Kong kindergartens participated in the study. Results reveal that play practices reported from Hong…

Playing is an activity that affects significantly the psychological development and learning in preschool age. Opinions among researchers and practitioners are divided about adults' role in children's play. Despite being a children's activity, high-level, complex social play hardly appears without adult mediation. According to the narrative play…

The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of Traditional Game Education Program (TGEP) on language development of pre-school children. Dependent and independent variables were determined as the children's language development scores and "traditional game education program", respectively. The study group was determined with…

We acknowledge the importance of scaffolding during play; thus, the present study explores the ways early childhood (EC) teachers provide guidance during children's socio-dramatic play and how they employ creative drama in their play interactions. Data collection included the play video recordings of an in-service teacher with a drama background,…

Drawing on the work of Vygotsky on scaffolding play and research on teacher intervention and mature forms of play, we have developed a teacher guide about play which frames children's role and scenario development and provides a teacher play intervention schema. The research question explored in this study is "How does a teacher guide,…

This article provides primary teachers with assessment tools and curricular examples to expand writers' workshop by adding a multimodal storytelling unit on drama and filmmaking, allowing students to create engaging off-the-page stories through films and play performances that enrich writing. Too often, children's literacy abilities are assessed…

This article explores how multicultural policy approaches, which mandate the inclusion of culturally and ethnically "diverse" play materials in early childhood classrooms influence the pedagogical practice of educators and, in turn, children's play and social interactions. Using data collected through participant observation of…

This paper explores how aligned arts and play experiences can extend child and family engagement in a public outdoor space. The importance of outdoor play for children is strongly advocated and in response local governments provide playgrounds and recreational open spaces. To extend further the experiences afforded in such spaces some local…

Drawing on the theory of dialogism and the literature on children's culture and cultural resistance, this article investigates the contextual and textual features of the cultural making of a group of children in sociodramatic play in a Hong Kong kindergarten. Different from other, similar studies, this study reports that under the gaze of the…

Drawing on data collected for a larger study investigating kindergarten teachers' online discussions of play, the present qualitative study examines teachers' discussions of gender. Findings suggest that teachers' project onto their kindergarten students many of their own gender prejudices about play. These teachers reinforced gendered attitudes…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a buddy skills package on the social and play interactions between three preschoolers with developmental delays and their peers. Each child participated in sociodramatic play activities with two peers who exhibited age-appropriate social and play skills. Following baseline, the children…

This paper looks at young children's creative thinking as inferred through observations of their activities. A total of 52 episodes of child-initiated and adult-initiated activities in 3- to 4-year-olds in an English Children's Centre were analysed using the Analysing Children's Creative Thinking (ACCT) Framework. Results showed that activities…

The purpose of this study was to observe children naturally interacting with these touch screen devices. Little direct instruction was given to the children on the use of the devices however an adult did assist when needed. The device was introduced to the children as would be any other educational material such as play-dough, new items in the…