Evidence-based strategies for play, such as the application of systematic prompting techniques, require education and collaboration between occupational therapists and classroom educators to support implementation and carryover. Educating teachers and paraprofessionals regarding systematic prompting strategies to increase play within the classroom…

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…

The aim of this study is to investigate the views of pre-school teachers on outdoor play activities. The research is designed in a qualitative pattern. The study group of the study was determined according to the "Turkish Classification of Statistical Region Units" (2003) by criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposeful…

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…

Kindergarten teachers face the challenge of integrating contemporary assessment practices with play-based pedagogy. The current study addresses this challenge by presenting a kindergarten assessment framework rooted in theory and current classroom practices, based on teacher interview and observational data collected in 20 kindergarten classrooms.…

Within the Croatian educational system, the school readiness programme is defined by the obligation of attending a pre-school curriculum in the year before school. Besides facilitating the transition into school, the programme also focuses on the development of early literacy skills, where play has a significant role. Therefore, the purpose of…

Kindergarten teachers are confronted with an evolving context for teaching and assessment. Recent reforms throughout the world have resulted in two fundamental shifts: (a) a growing emphasis on academic learning and increased use of assessment to support and monitor students' academic and developmental progress and (b) the use of play as a…

Kindergarten teachers are confronted with an evolving context for teaching and assessment. Recent reforms throughout the world have resulted in two fundamental shifts: (a) a growing emphasis on academic learning and increased use of assessment to support and monitor students' academic and developmental progress and (b) the use of play as a…

This study aims to contribute knowledge about obstacles and opportunities for pedagogical continuity in science across early childhood education. We use activity theory to analyse individual interviews and group meetings with teachers from preschool (age 1-5), preschool class (age 6) and grade 1-3 (age 7-9) in three Swedish school units. The…

Due to the increased use of technology in people's lives, digital media literacy has become increasingly more important in young children's early experiences. When used appropriately, children discover how to use digital media in ways that enhance their learning, preparing them for the positive benefits of technology use across their lifetime. The…

The number of children attending state-funded early childhood education (ECE) programs, centers, or school-based preschool programs has increased over the last two decades and continues to rise steadily. These ECE programs use play as the main learning tool for their young students. Research illustrates the many benefits of using play as a…

Stay-play-talk (SPT) is a peer-mediated intervention that involves training peer implementers to stay in proximity to, play with, and talk to a focal child who has disabilities or lower social competence. This systematic review and meta-analysis investigated the contexts in which SPT interventions have been conducted, the methodological adequacy…

For decades the field of early childhood education has experienced an identity crisis. Theoretical ideologies of early childhood pioneers have provided the foundation for understanding young children's development and the use of DAP for typically and atypically developing children. However, in the context of the systematic structure of general…

In studies of classroom discourse in early childhood education and care (ECEC), a dominance of the communicative pattern of initiation, response, follow-up (IRF) is shown, and a need of knowledge about extensive dialogue for meaning making is argued. In the present study, communication between children and teacher(s) in play is consider as a form…

At present there is little evidence documenting children's possession-based behaviours during play within preschool settings. This ethnographic study observed the same group of 12 children over a four-month period during sustained bouts of indoor and outdoor play. An event sampling approach was employed in order to identify episodes of…