This article investigates early childhood educators' perceptions of children's gender-role play and the impact their cultural background plays in their gender identity and play behaviors. Through qualitative in-depth interviews, early childhood educators in Canada (n = 40) were asked questions relating to their experiences with children from…

This article examines the socio-cultural significance of birthday cakes with the purpose of reflecting upon birthday cake practices enacted in four early childhood settings in England. I argue that birthday cakes occupy an ambiguous place in early childhood practice: seen to be both "risky"--a term I problematise--"and"…

Children are born with an intrinsic drive and natural curiosity to explore the world around them. Just as young children are attracted to the natural world, they too are enticed by the physical challenges and risk-taking experiences that such environments provide. Based on research conducted at one of Canada's first Forest Kindergartens and using…

This research adopted a qualitative methodology to investigate the reported beliefs and pedagogical practices relating to infant peer relationships held by three early childhood infant educators. Thematic analysis was used to derive commonalties and differences that reflected these educators' views and practices about children's early peer…

Using feminist and poststructuralist accounts of teacher emotion, the analysis presented in this article examines one teacher's emotion as she participated in a 6-month ethnographic study of emotion in her preschool classroom while enrolled in an online graduate course focused on the sociology of childhood and socially just curriculum.…

Rhythm has been found to enhance not only biological functioning (e.g. balance, timing and coordination), but also to facilitate learning across sociocultural contexts. That is, rhythm may be a method of supporting child development and well-being. Hence, to the extent that children are not exposed to or engaged with rhythm, their development or…

The findings from this study suggest that 2-year-old children regularly use mark making as a tool to further support their emergent thoughts and understanding of the world. The qualitative study of three 2-year-old children uses observations and informal interviews to construct narrative stories of their explorations and play both at nursery and…

In the light of sustained interest in the potential value of young children's narrative play, this article examines Vivian Gussin Paley's approach to storytelling and story-acting, in this case with 3- to 5-year-olds. It scrutinises how children's narratives are co-constructed during adult-child and peer interactions through spoken and embodied…

Joint attention enables infants to communicate with adults as well as with each other, sharing what is in their minds. Yet, communicative competence and joint attention between infant peers have received little attention in the literature. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how infants under the age of two within a childcare…

This qualitative study of 26 African American parents and caregivers of preschool children sought to address gaps in the current literature by exploring how the intersection of parents' racism experiences and social class may play a role in race-related socialization during the early years. Analysis of narrative interviews revealed that…

Childhood overweight has received increased national attention as a social and health problem. Childcare providers play an increasingly prominent role in the lives of young children and are therefore important in initiating change. This qualitative study determined the role of childcare professionals in the prevention of childhood overweight.…

This qualitative study presents sociolinguistic characteristics of peer-talk of 44 children in a Mandarin-English-speaking preschool in Taiwan where English was taught as a foreign language (EFL). Key findings: teacher-dominated talk influences children's peer-talk; EFL and code-switching emerge in spontaneous peer-talk; children actively engage…