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The chapter presents children’s views on what they do and learn in preschool and school and how changes in practice can arise from children’s voices. Based on interviews with 22 Danish children a few months prior to starting school, children’s views on preschool learning are presented along with their expectations of school and of what they will learn at school. The interviews focused on questions such as: What have you learned at preschool? What do you think about starting school? What will you DO at school next year? What will you LEARN at school next year? The analysis showed, among other things, that, in preschool, children prefer play and creative activities, also stating that they learn to behave correctly and prepare for school. Most of the children looked forward to starting school, although a number of the children did not know what school would be like. According to the children’s expectations about what they would DO at school, many think they will play – and have homework. The learning dimension was not very visible. On the other hand, when they were asked: ‘What will you LEARN at school next year?’ one third of the children replied that they will learn maths, how to read and how to behave correctly. Another third of the children did not know what they would learn. Follow-up interviews with preschool and school teachers based on the above findings have resulted in changes to the everyday practice at preschools during the year prior to the transition to school, as well as some changes to the transition process itself.The study is part of a larger project with Professor Judith T. Wagner, Wittier College, USA: Children's and Teachers' Perceptions of Learning and Play in Preschool and Kindergarten in Denmark and USA.

This article is concerned with the meaning of Communities of Children in the transition from preschool to school – analyzed from the children’s perspectives (Aronsson, Hedegaard, Højholt, & Ulvik, 2012).The text is based on an ethnographic study where a group of Danish children where followed through participatory observations from their last year at kindergarten through their first two school years (Stanek, 2011, 2013, 2014). The main argument in the article is that if we are to support children in their transition from one institutional setting to another, we need a closer insight in the social everyday life children moves across. To understand the way in which children participate within the school start, we need to know about children’s participation possibilities within the social everyday life of the school and further more to be informed of the social life and the children’s former participation possibilities within the children’s communities in preschool. This means that we need both cooperation with the children’s parents and professional collaboration and information sharing across preschool and school and professional cooperation within the school. This article is concerned with the meaning of Communities of Children in the transition from preschool to school – analyzed from the children’s perspectives (Aronsson, Hedegaard, Højholt, & Ulvik, 2012).The text is based on an ethnographic study where a group of Danish children where followed through participatory observations from their last year at kindergarten through their first two school years (Stanek, 2011, 2013, 2014). The main argument in the article is that if we are to support children in their transition from one institutional setting to another, we need a closer insight in the social everyday life children moves across. To understand the way in which children participate within the school start, we need to know about children’s participation possibilities within the social everyday life of the school and further more to be informed of the social life and the children’s former participation possibilities within the children’s communities in preschool. The results from the research implies that if the children’s perspectives could rule practice, the professional cooperation within the transition from preschool to school would focus on helping children - in concrete ways in lessons and during brakes - to develop the Communities of Children and the children’s participation possibilities within these.

This article deals with the problem on children’s transition from preschool to school. Besides a number of so-called transition activities as for example children visit to school before school start, the author also argues for a practice using boundary objects in order to ease children’s transition to school. However the main message is to break the philosophical discontinuity (educational contradictions) between preschool and school by use of a common learning concept – a play-based learning understanding which both is useful in preschool and school.

This chapter deals with children’s transition to school and play. First part focuses on transition and shows a number of problem, which in short can be described as lack of continuity between preschool and school. The answer to this problem is to create transition strategies and activities. Besides a number of transition activities the author argues for play as pivot for successful transition and more specific dialogical reading followed by play. Thus play is not seen as children’s own free-flow play, but as an educational activity in which the preschool teacher has an active role.