This paper draws on research exploring young children's playful and humorous communication. It explores how playful activity mediates and connects children in complex activity systems where imagination, cognition, and consciousness become distributed across individuals. Children's playfulness is mediated and distributed via artefacts (tools, signs…

This article has arisen from a study involving teachers in an early childhood centre and their responses to being introduced to schema learning theory. As a former practitioner in early childhood education and in my current role in initial teacher education, I have an interest in cognitive constructivist learning theories from both developmental…

Belonging has long been conceptualised as a fundamental human need, essential for the good health of individuals and communities. In relation to young children, belonging may be linked to their developing sense of identity, as well as the way they perceive and respond to others. Belonging is emerging as an important aspect of contemporary early…

Children's interests are frequently cited as a source of early-years curricula. Yet, research has rarely considered the nature of these interests beyond the play-based environment of early-childhood education. This paper reports findings from a qualitative, interpretivist study in two early childhood settings in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Using…

This article is based on the author's personal experience of an uncomfortable discussion with a family. Issues are explored around the difficulty in anticipating how a young child with a learning delay will respond to speech-language therapy and how the practitioner will give accurate information. Two key journal articles on giving bad news are…