In this review article, the context of young children in South Africa in 2012 is described and the main challenges affecting children and the early childhood development sector (ECD) in South Africa are investigated. A situation analysis of ECD in South Africa was undertaken using South African government ECD policy and programme implementation…

This article presents the key findings and discussion from a research project and subsequent report: "Involving young children in decision making: An exploration of practitioners' views". This research explored early childhood practitioners'--childcare workers, kindergarten, pre-primary and grade 1-2 teachers--views on decision making…

This naturalistic observational study described the similarities and differences in physical interactions involving preschoolers and kindergartners within the context of a US childcare facility. It examined patterns of touch involving the children across center and circle activities within the course of their day. Results indicated that…

This article shares a story about an "activist" early childhood teacher encountering the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). Specifically, it focuses on the overarching concepts of "belonging" and "becoming" through the EYLF's call for early childhood educators to engage with theory in their everyday practice. In…

Four-hundred-and-eighty children in the age groups of four and six years, 240 each from Brazil and Norway, were asked how their feelings of anger, sadness and fear were reduced in a recollected episode, to propose emotion regulation strategies for protagonists and to envisage the result of regulation strategies. A majority of even the youngest…

This article discusses cultural responsiveness and routines of child care centers that do not match what families are accustomed to at home. It can be difficult to discuss cultural differences in some routine caregiving activities because of the standards, rules, regulations, best practices, and health concerns that those trained in early…

A class of 3- to 5-year-old children in a child care center in the midwestern United States chose to study a car wash as a group project. This article discusses how the project evolved, describes the three phases of the project, and provides the teachers' reflections on the project. Photos taken during the project and children's sketches are…

Rates of food insecurity in households with children have significantly increased over the past decade. The majority of children, including those at risk for food insecurity, participate in some form of non-parental child care during the preschool years. To evaluate the relationship between the two phenomenon, this study investigates the effects…

This newsletter contains two articles: (1) "Experiencing Nature: An Opportunity for Pedagogic Quality" by Bowine Wijffels and Marc Veekamp; and (2) "There's Nature in Our Nature!" by Swati Popat. In the first article, the authors describe their experiences as project partners, discuss the design of nature experiencing for…

Maine has two initiatives that build on Early Head Start (EHS). The first initiative, Fund for a Healthy Maine, has since 2001 provided tobacco settlement money to existing Head Start and EHS programs to expand the number of children who receive full-day, full-year services. Local programs have the option of using these funds for EHS, depending on…

The purpose of the article is to describe Finnish media literacy policies and good media education practices in early childhood education and care. This article will focus on describing two central action lines related to the Children and Media Program, initiated by the Division for Cultural Policy of the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2004.…

Transition practices that ensure continuity between early childhood settings have been shown to be important in assisting children's short-term and long-term growth and development (Vogler, Cravello & Woodhead, 2008). In Western Australia many young children move from and between long day care (LDC) settings to kindergarten. In that state,…

To better understand and promote healthy nutritional behaviour development in children, research suggests the need to develop a stronger comprehension of influences from their social environment. Yet research has favoured studying parents, with little attention being paid to other important individuals in children's lives, especially from a…

Each week, nearly 11 million children under age 5 are in some type of child care setting for an average of 35 hours. Parents, as consumers of child care, equate a child care license with state approval--a gold seal for those businesses to which a state grants a license. Child Care Aware® of America reviews state licensing policies, which include…

Recent research (Te One, 2009) investigated perceptions of children's rights in a New Zealand early childhood care and education service (the Creche) for under-two-year-olds. Focus group interviews, interviews with teachers, observational field notes, photographs and a researcher's journal were used to generate data. Findings revealed that…