ERIC Number: EJ815548
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007-Oct
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0957-5146
EISSN: N/A
Playing with Rules around Routines: Children Making Mealtimes Meaningful and Enjoyable
Alcock, Sophie
Early Years: An International Journal of Research and Development, v27 n3 p281-293 Oct 2007
Children attending early childhood education and care centres spend a lot of time fitting in with institutional routines. This paper uses ethnographic methods and sociocultural activity theory to describe and analyse the processes whereby young children in an early childhood centre collectively created meaning and interest during potentially boring routine mealtimes. The research explores the relationship between rules and children's playful activity. Using their imaginations children negotiated and played with and within the rules around "eating-together" times. While physically constrained in chairs around tables children enjoyed the freedom of playing with word sounds and meanings. Children actively, collaboratively and at times subversively, created their peer community culture.
Descriptors: Early Childhood Education, Ethnography, Young Children, Child Care, Peer Relationship, Social Influences, Humor, Imagination, Foreign Countries, Language Usage, Imitation, Repetition
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New Zealand
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A