This paper adopts a sociocultural perspective to provide a critical consideration of participatory approaches to research with young children. The particular focus is on the use of pedagogical documentation and learning stories as "participatory" tools to elicit children's perspectives for research. The paper will argue that, despite the recent popularity of participatory approaches the method should not be considered unproblematic. A range of recent literature is drawn upon and reference made to ongoing research. A specific learning story is then expounded as an example, to discuss and critically examine three main challenges for participatory research. Firstly, these concern the assumption that the tools themselves somehow automatically enable participation. The key message from the literature is that it is the research design and relationships that confer real participation and engagement. Adopting this approach also raises a number of serious dilemmas around ethics and power, especially as the interpretation of children's perspectives is usually made from an adult point of view. The paper therefore identifies several practical implications for researchers attempting to elicit children's perspectives and engage them in the research process. In general, it is argued that participatory methods should be grounded within ethnographic study and not seen as a replacement for it.