This ERIC Digest discusses children's play and its relationship to developmental growth from infancy to middle childhood. Discussion focuses on: (1) sensorimotor play in which infants and toddlers experiment with bodily sensation, motor movements, objects, and people; (2) pretend play in which children carry out action plans, take on roles, and…

Although pretend play has long been part of the early childhood curriculum, recent emphasis on accountability in education seems to have led to a decline in the general understanding of the contribution that high-quality play can make to children's cognitive development in the early years. This digest defines the cluster of concepts related to…

An overview is provided in this discussion of major developments in preschool education in the United Kingdom from 1973 to 1983. The first section offers general observations and covers major trends: rapid social change, the low priority accorded to preschooling, diversity as a key feature of early childhood education, children with special needs,…

Although pretend play has long been part of the early childhood curriculum, recent emphasis on accountability in education seems to have led to a decline in the general understanding of the contribution that high-quality play can make to children's cognitive development in the early years. This Spanish-language Digest defines the cluster of…

The nine chapters in Volume V address issues of concern to those who work with or conduct research with young children and those who plan programs or prepare others for teaching or caregiving. Included are "Recent Research on Play: The Teacher's Perspective," by Millie Almy, Patricia Monighan, Barbara Scales, and Judith Van Hoorn;…

The ten chapters in this volume address issues of concern to those who work with or conduct research with young children and those who plan programs or prepare others for teaching or caregiving. Included are "The Development of Bilingual and Bicultural Competence in Young Children," by Muriel Saville-Troike; "Development of…

The seven brief chapters of this paper advocate mixed-age grouping in schools and child care centers. Discussion defines mixed-age grouping and examines some limitations of single-age grouping. Research findings on social and cognitive aspects of mixed-age grouping are reviewed. Social aspects are discussed by considering in turn the following…

A resource area in an early childhood classroom can foster children's learning by providing them with opportunities to use a wide variety of materials in a wide range of contexts. This digest offers suggestions concerning resource rooms in early childhood classrooms and discusses issues relevant to children's play. Many classroom areas can be…

A human ecological approach to the study of children's television viewing raises questions that researchers have largely neglected. Does television influence the interaction patterns of socializing agents with children and with one another? Are there long-term, psychological consequences of unintegrated and competing influences from television and…

An internationally acclaimed program that challenges American notions of appropriate early education is the municipal early childhood program in Reggio Emilia, Italy. The town's liberal financial support of child care and citizen membership in school committees indicate strong community support. Parents are involved in school policy discussions,…

The ERIC/EECE Digests in this compilation focus on different aspects of the education and care of children from birth through 12 years of age. The four digests produced in 1989 concern the escalating kindergarten curriculum, involvement of parents in the education of their children, mixed-age groups in early childhood education, and praise in the…

The primary aim of this discussion is to demonstrate that social pretend play is a process of negotiation involving children's attempts to reach minimal agreements in order to maintain the play activity. The second purpose is to show that the quality of negotiation changes in content and form as social pretense evolves and that this process is…

Early Childhood Research and Practice (ECRP), a peer-reviewed, Internet-only journal sponsored by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE), covers topics related to the development, care, and education of children from birth to approximately age 8. The journal emphasizes articles reporting on practice-related…

Noting that our ability to incorporate the cultural strengths and the distinctive ways that families, specifically fathers, contribute to educational accomplishments of preschool children is severely constrained by major gaps and inadequacy in the research literature, this Digest explores what is known about the role of fathers in young children's…

This paper provides an extensive discussion of children's play, including examination of theoretical, developmental, measurement, and classroom or playgroup perspectives for teachers of children between the ages of 2 and 6 years. The first section offers a brief overview of theories of play and describes several distinguishing features of play,…