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The COVID-19 pandemic's restrictions for schools and playgrounds threatened children's social and emotional wellbeing. In response, Grade 4/5 students created music-based activities through action research to sustain playground interactions. This study explored the crucial yet fragile playground relationships and the children's determination to maintain them. Findings indicate that the student-initiated projects were not only a medium for self-expression and maintaining friendships, but also served as an important tool for reinforcing the inherent social fabric of the playground setting. Notably, this study underscores the significance of collaborative learning, interpersonal skill development, and intrinsic motivation in fostering social skills and enhancing self-confidence.

This three-year qualitative research study examined the knowledge and experiences of 20 early years educators while introducing Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies on Land-Based Learning in10 urban childcare centers. Educators were introduced to Indigenous perspectives and pedagogies through workshops with Indigenous speakers and Indigenous-authored picture books. These perspectives included the importance of supporting children to develop responsive and caring relationships to the Land for their own wellbeing and for the wellbeing of all their fellow creatures. Supported by their educators, the children increased their sense of belonging in the world, expressed gratitude for their fellow creatures, and recognized and enacted their responsibility to care for nature.

The mathematics of budgeting and space can lead to a justice-oriented experience for elementary students as they design a proposal for an inclusive playground. The authors' work focused on creating the space for elementary children to see the interconnectedness between mathematics and a community social injustice, lack of inclusive playground access, through community-based mathematical modeling (CBMM). This article highlights how third- and fourth-grade teachers, a math coach, and a university professor (also authors of this paper) collaboratively and thoughtfully engaged in the CBMM cycle.

Across courses in the social sciences, instructors confront the challenge of how to teach (theories of) culture, yet no consensus exists as to what helps students best comprehend and digest its full complexity. This article offers a metaphorical and heuristic approach to culture that is accessible, multifaceted, and reflective of a wide range of important sociological theories and concepts. Five metaphors are introduced: culture as a training ground, battleground, playground, campground, and fairgrounds. Practical applications and suggestions for organizing a course around these five metaphorical grounds are discussed and outlined.

Playgrounds are crucial spaces where children can develop within their formative years. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) require additional support that caters to their sensory and social needs. A systematic literature review identified design characteristics to transform a play space into an environment where physical, social, and personal growth for children of varying abilities is encouraged. To model these recommendations, an examination of a playground was conducted with suggestions adapted to develop an accessible play environment. Results showed that there is a need for outdoor play spaces that engage children in building and maintaining relationships with peers. Providing equitable access to play allows people to come together due to a shared need for connectivity.

Young children in many parts of the world are spending more time in formal education and care settings. As children have the right to be heard on matters that affect them, their views about the early childhood environments they inhabit, need to be included in the process of placemaking. Early childhood environments have the potential to shape a child's identity, sense of belonging and inclusion. This research sought children's ideas about their early childhood setting, with the view to informing the design of a new inclusive centre. Researching with children aged three-to-five, from a low socio-economic ethnically diverse suburb, multi-modal data were generated in three phases: child-led photo-taking tours; photo elicited interviews; and interview elicited drawing. Findings showed a preference for the outdoors, along with places for hiding, safety, cleanliness and authentic rather than 'fake' resources.

Environmental characteristics of kindergartens are important for the development of kindergarten-aged children. However, knowledge of the role of kindergarten play environments in developing children's fundamental movement skills is limited. A pilot study was carried out to compare the fundamental movement skills of 3.5- to 5-year-old children in two kindergarten groups. One group had access to a traditional playground, an indoor room for active play, and had weekly trips. The other group had access to a nature-based playground. Fundamental movement skills were measured using the short form of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, second edition test. In total, 28 children participated--11 children attended the kindergarten group with the traditional playground, and 17 children attended the kindergarten group with the nature-based playground. The total test score was 14.64 for children with access to a traditional playground and 16.71 for children with access to a nature-based playground. However, no statistically significant difference between the groups in total test score and the individual tests was found. It might be that space and diversity of features are more important than exposure to nature. In future research, more robust longitudinal studies with larger samples are required to investigate different kindergarten playground designs and environmental features related to motor skill development.

The authors investigated the outdoor physical play of Norwegian first graders in after-school programs using a study that viewed play from the children's perspective. The authors identified three themes of the physically active play they observed--"playing with friends," "no one decides," and "I can do it." Their findings highlight the dynamic importance of such play, especially of child initiation in play and of playing with other children. The physical outdoor play fostered fun and playful interaction, leading both to improved communication and movement capabilities. The authors discuss their findings in relation to Scott Eberle's theoretical understanding of play, findings that indicate the complex conditions that support and extend children's play in after-school programs and the need to recognize them.

In this article, the author deploys Erving Goffman's concept of territories of the self as an analytical tool to understand the challenges and opportunities a childcare setting presents for children engaged in social fantasy play. He uses this concept to unpack the unique institutional play habitat of a childcare facility and shows how Goffman's territories form a constant concern for children in their engagements, orientations, and creative projects in social fantasy play. Through an in-depth analysis of emblematic play in an ethnographically inspired observational study, the author illustrates how the need for play domains and social alliances in childcare helps create both the demanding obstacles and inspirational possibilities of children's social fantasy play.

This research addresses the role of the constructivist approach in teaching Arabic at the al-Falah Islamic boarding school, Banjarbaru. This research used a qualitative approach with in-depth interviews and participatory observation as data collection methods. The results showed that the constructivist approach to learning Arabic at Pesantren al-Falah applies active learning methods, such as discovery learning and free expression. Kiyai, instructors, and dormitory leaders have created various programs and activities to improve student's language skills. The learning environment is not only limited to the classroom but also involves the dormitory, playground, kitchen, mosque, and other places. In addition, problem-solving and thinking skills are taught during the learning process. Overall, the Kiyai as a role model approach model effectively improves students' skills in Arabic in pesantren. This research contributes to developing the Arabic language in other pesantren in Indonesia.

This article studies the history of playgrounds in Finland and focuses on the emergence and implementation of the objectives of the international playground movement in the early twentieth century. Specifically, it examines the relations between supervised playgrounds, women's emancipation, child welfare policies, and political discussion on social class. In doing so, the article illustrates the transnational circulation and implementation of early twentieth century "child-saving" ideas, such as the playground reform. The analysis is done by cross and close reading a wealth of contemporary texts on playgrounds, such as magazines, newspapers, and archival materials. By tracing the interwoven aspects of the playground movement and the history of Finland, especially the significance of the Civil War of 1918, this article argues that supervised playgrounds were utilised in reconciling the socio-political issues of the newly independent state.

Schoolyards represent an important opportunity for physical activity, development and learning. However, there is minimal policy or accountability for their level or distribution. Through community partnership and citizen science, we built a system-wide picture of schoolyard quality across Ontario, using a validated, standardized tool. Quality was low with considerable variation. The top-scoring school scored 61 of a possible 88 points, the minimum was 14 (M = 35.3; SD = 9.9). Affluent schools and communities had slightly better playgrounds than poorer ones. Knowledge mobilization about how schoolyards impact health and shortcomings in existing resources raise possibilities for advocacy and policy work.

This paper draws on a three-year ethnographic study during which we investigated young children's cultural development in a Brazilian early childhood centre. A cultural-historical approach was used to understand the concept of autonomy. We focus on Danilo, a very young child who overcame his fear of using a play slide (a cultural artefact). We believe that this process led to his achievement. Our findings suggest that young children's conquests consist of intentional actions that become part of their individual and social identities.

Outdoor education fosters student well-being, development and learning. However, many schools restrict outdoor experience to their own playground, and to times considered recess. This case study, which examined student and teacher perceptions about the outdoor experience on traditional playgrounds, was conducted in an urban school in the Basque Country with an asphalt playground whose only resources were related to sports. We conducted five focal studies with 40 students, and administered a questionnaire to 78 teachers in Primary and Secondary Education. The results obtained made clear the dissatisfaction of both students and teachers with the use of the playground and with the opportunities it offered. However, they also identified areas for improvement and suggested future lines of work. It is essential to promote a dynamic of reflection on outdoor spaces that includes student participation as well as training teachers and raising their awareness.

With the inclusion of play as a right, schools are urged to consider whether "all" children can access play opportunities in schoolyards. Refocusing on play as occupation is identified as an important way in which occupational therapists can contribute within schools. Greater knowledges of children's play and teachers' practices, in schoolyards in an Irish context, is required however to guide practices. This inquiry used interviews to explore with 10 primary school teachers, their practices, and experiences of children's play in Irish schoolyards. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to generate three interrelated themes. These were (a) Break(in)time: Play in schoolyards as different from other ways of doing within schools, (b) play as producing inclusion and exclusion, (c) and certainties and uncertainties produced in teachers' everyday practices. This inquiry generated knowledges on the social nature of children's play and teachers" practices in Irish schoolyards as negotiated processes, interacting with diverse intentions, and the particularities of each schoolyard. The consequences of individualizing choice were highlighted as central to the production of inclusion and exclusion in schoolyards. Greater consideration of how children's play and teachers" practices occur as collective occupations, is proposed to advance inclusive schoolyards.

Playwork is a recognised profession in the United Kingdom (UK) and is currently a growing area of interest internationally. However, debates about the nature and purpose of playwork have raged in the playwork field since the profession was invented in the early adventure playgrounds. This study is the first to capture data about what the now international playwork workforce understands to be the purpose of playwork. The International Playwork Census (IPC) was an online survey which asked participants from 19 different countries about their knowledge and experience of playwork. This paper reports on one question from the IPC: what is the purpose of playwork? A thematic analysis was undertaken from 193 responses on what was considered "the purpose of playwork" and three themes emerged: Facilitate and Provide for children's play; Support and Advocate. This paper describes how these three themes reflect both the historical change in understandings of the purpose of playwork and how different understandings of playwork are developed through the experience of practitioners working in range of different contexts.

Purpose: During the past decades, China has seen a rapid urbanization that has (re)shaped not only its city landscape but also (re)created public space where children live, play, and learn. However, little research has focused on how urban public space influences young children's learning and development and how parents navigate children's development in the public space. Therefore, this research aims to study how public space influences parents' engagement with their young children. Design/Approach/Methods: This study is informed of Bronfenbrenner's Processes, Person, Context, and Time (PPCT) model that sees children's learning as complex and multilateral interactions among various stakeholders including schools, families, and environment. It employed ethnographic approach to study the interactions between children and their parents in a public playground in a Western Chinese city. Findings: It found that parents realized public space had been reshaped by urbanization. While they accompanied their children to play, they actively monitored children's safety and cultivated children's physical and social development. In this process, male parents tended to contribute more than they would do in other settings. Originality/Value: This study fills the gap by providing a nuanced study exploring how parents fulfill their responsibilities in an integral space of children's development, which has rarely been explored.

People with disabilities in the United States have access to a fraction of engaging play experiences available to others due to playground design choices, minimal legal requirements, and societal acceptance of the status quo. PlayGrand Adventures, the first and largest all-abilities playground in North Texas, meets this need by providing engaging play opportunities for everyone. This qualitative case study explores and describes community engagement at PlayGrand Adventures, informed by principles of environmental reciprocity supported by Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (1986) and Gibson's Affordance Theory (1979). The researcher collected data on community perception and engagement via a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and playground observations. The study fills a gap in academic research on all-abilities playgrounds in the United States to increase awareness of the systemic underserving of people with disabilities in this country and provides a potential solution. The researcher offers initial recommendations for PlayGrand Adventures' future development and implementation with implications for replication in other cities.

Little research in education has focused on school neighborhoods. We employ a novel systematic social observation tool--the internet-based School Neighborhood Assessment Protocol (iSNAP)--within Google Street View to quantify the physical characteristics of 291 preschool communities in nine U.S. cities. We find low to moderate correlations (r = -0.03 to -0.57) between iSNAP subscales and Census tract poverty, density, and crime, suggesting that the characteristics captured by the iSNAP are related to, yet ultimately distinct from, existing neighborhood structural measures. We find few positive associations between iSNAP community characteristics and 1,230 low-income preschoolers' end-of-year outcomes. Specifically, resources for outdoor play (e.g., playgrounds, open fields) on school grounds predicted stronger child self-regulation skills, whereas global ratings of safety and care for both the school grounds and surrounding neighborhood predicted stronger approaches to learning skills. Indicators of physical order were not associated with child outcomes.

The paper contains two different studies on preschool children's physical activity at indoor playground markings. Both of these studies are designed as two-factor experiments. Participants were children (N=87, 41 females, 46 males; Mage= 66.4 months) from an urban public preschool. Two main hallways of the school were painted with playground markings. Data were gathered for two consecutive weeks (Week 1 = free play, Week 2 = teacher implemented activities). This forms the instruction type in these studies with two levels ('no' = free play time in Week 1, 'yes' = teacher implemented activities in Week 2). Physical activity level was assessed using the System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time for Preschoolers (SOFIT-P) with five levels (1 = lying down, 2 = sitting, 3 = standing, 4 = walking, and 5 = fast/highly active). Moreover, seven activity types were considered in the study (S = lie down/sit/stand/squat, C = climb/crawl, W = walk/ride, P = push/pull/throw, K = rock/swing, D = dance/jump/skip, and R = run/roll/rough/tumble). R (version 3.6.1) was used for the data analysis in both studies using a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The goal of the first study was to evaluate the effects of instruction type and activity levels on the time spent by children during physical activities. The second study aimed to investigate the same outcome in the first study with respect to the instruction type and the activity type. The findings revealed that children spent more time doing high levels of activities at the playground markings when performing teacher implemented activities. The instruction type impacted physical activity levels more than the activity type. Increasing time spent in teacher implemented activities is a key element to encourage children to be more active at indoor playground markings.

High-quality language interactions not only support children's language development, but also promote better long-term academic outcomes. Language learning is the single best predictor of later growth in language, literacy, mathematics, and social development. However, many families do not have access to educationally enriched spaces that spur high-quality language opportunities. This leads the authors to ask what educators and policymakers can do to expose children to high-quality interactions that promote literacy skills. The Playful Learning Landscapes (PLL) initiative, which is presented in this article, was founded on the premise that children from all communities should have access to beautiful, enriching, and culturally relevant play environments that help them thrive. Working with community members, the authors co-designed public spaces that promote the kinds of adult-child conversations that lead to literacy learning.

This article reports findings from an ethnographic study investigating the culture of children's musical games played in school playgrounds. The research took place in nine primary schools in Greece and lasted for 6 months. Data collection methods included open observation of children aged 6 to 11 years, focused small-group observation, semi-structured interviews of 53 children (aged 8-11 years), and video recordings of the children's musical games. Analyses of the research data, in light of the relevant literature, revealed the physical and human geographies of musical games, gender preferences, transmission sources and processes, learning and teaching practices, improvisations and variations, and communication among participants. The article concludes with implications for music education research and practice.

The importance of outdoor activities for children should not be overlooked, and teachers and parents as stakeholders have an influential role in providing learning opportunities (Elliott, 2015). Teachers are dependent on parental reciprocity because of potential for harm (Maynard, 2007), and parents can limit activities because of various reasons such as traffic, weather and getting hurt (Cevher-Kalburan, 2014; Yilmaz, 2016). Therefore, identifying parental perceptions of outdoor activities is a significant aspect of supporting children's opportunity to engage in them. In this research, semi-structured interviews were used to collect data, as a way to understand participating parents' views in detail (Fife, 2005). Data collection was carried out by the author and NVivo 12 software programme was used to analyse data from 30 participants. Six main themes emerged from the interview questions in the data analysis, which are presented in this paper. While participating parents overall were positive about promoting outdoor activities both at out-of-school and in schools, their preferences for their children were mostly for indoor activities. Thus, there was conflict between what they claimed for outdoor activities and what they most preferred for their own children. This apparent tension suggests the need for further research.

Drawing on such academic topics as the white racial frame, critical race theory, Black critical theory, and Black male studies, the authors offer Black PlayCrit, a tool focusing on the specificity of Blackness and anti-Black violence in play. Calling for the adoption of Black PlayCrit in future studies, they suggest researchers should consider practicing its tenets by developing questions that privilege the stories of Black male youths and consider racism a part of their everyday lived experience, including their participation in structured and unstructured play. Protecting young Black males, they argue, requires a shift in the way we view them and how they play in schools and communities. Doing so may make students of play uncomfortable, may push the boundaries of the scholarly understanding of play, and may force the scholarship around play to face harsh realities about the structure of communities and recreational agencies. However, such thoughtful consideration can help create a society in which playing while Black no longer becomes a death sentence.

Antecedent exercise (AE) is an intervention used to promote moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and improve subsequent behavior in non-exercise contexts. We used withdrawal and multitreatment single case research designs to compare the effects of baseline, AE alone, and AE + visual supports condition. Two preschool-age boys participated in this study. A masked secondary observer recorded interobserver agreement data for 100% of sessions; these data were continually monitored to detect biases. For one participant, AE alone was sufficient to reduce instances of challenging behavior during morning circle time. For the other participant, AE + visual supports was more effective than AE alone. These results point to the need for continued, rigorous research on the nuances of antecedent interventions for young children who demonstrate challenging behaviors. AE is but one such intervention requiring further investigation into for whom and under what conditions it might be effective.

This study used a semi-structured approach interviewing 22 participants currently working in playwork. Participants were asked what they thought was the purpose of playwork and comment on their playwork practice because of the lockdown from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom (UK). Using thematic analysis, three purposes of playwork practice were identified: advocacy; compensatory and facilitation. In relation to their playwork, the lockdown resulted in playwork practice stopped and staff being furloughed. For others, playwork practice continued which was either non-face--to face by providing resources or there was a change of focus, for example providing online play sessions or working in a "hub" located in schools reflecting the three themes identified as the purpose of playwork. This study identified the adaptable and versatile nature of playwork that has enabled some form of playwork practice to still operate being facilitated more as a compensatory outreach provision, whether virtually or supplying or resources during the COVID-19 lockdown and the importance of maintaining relationships with the children and families in the communities where playwork provision so continuing to advocate the importance of play in children's lives. These qualities of playwork have a lot to offer once the restrictions have been lifted in both playwork-specific provision such as adventure playgrounds but also in other contexts where playwork practice is undertaken. This includes schools and could also include pre-school and daycare provision.

Risky play, accompanied by thrilling feelings with real or perceived risks, is beneficial for children's development. Playground quality and teachers' attitudes about risk can influence preschoolers' risky play opportunities. In this study, 10 U.S. preschools' outdoor environments were rated using the Seven Cs Scale. Playgrounds scored lowest in challenge, demonstrating a lack of risky play opportunities and highest in context and connectivity, exhibiting adequate safety measures and pathways. The Tolerance for Risk in Play Scale was used to assess 58 teachers' attitudes. The average score was 29 (on a scale of 0 to 100, highest risk tolerance). Across risky play categories, teachers were most accepting of rough-and-tumble play and least accepting of play with dangerous tools. During a focus group, teachers also expressed concerns regarding overly restrictive safety regulations. The findings highlight the need for further teacher education concerning risky play.

Visual evidence offered by a set of previously unexamined photographic images taken at Stanmore Public School in Sydney, Australia in 1919 informs this paper which considers the images' purpose, construction, content, use, and reception. It endorses arguments that visual evidence combines with other sources to tell a richer history, and that images have potential to reveal history that otherwise might remain hidden. In the first two decades of the twentieth century, Australian educators participated enthusiastically in the worldwide movement for educational reform known as New Education. The state of New South Wales introduced new curricula and fresh methods of teaching. The Department of Education was proud of its achievements, and the photographs taken at Stanmore reflect, affirm, and promote the changes which had taken place during a period when educators were enthusiastic about making New Education available to all children in the state schools and not just to those in small private progressive schools. This situation would shift in the 1920s and 1930s. The photographs, in conjunction with other sources including archival school files, allow an approach to the school experience of small children in the Infants Department at Stanmore. The School, with the support of influential educators, consciously introduced Kindergarten and Montessori methods into newly refurbished classrooms and an expanded playground. The photographs represent both educational achievement and optimism for the future and fit well into a recently argued genre called "the progressive image".

When playwork settings re-opened in July 2020 after the first lockdown in March 2020, playwork as a profession demonstrated its adaptable and flexible nature for children to access the provision. This included open access provision becoming closed access and bookable, a reduction in the number of children, resources, and space to play, and increased cleaning. As part of a longitudinal study, now one year how are open access settings (adventure playgrounds and mobile play provision) and closed access settings (breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, and holiday playschemes) operating? An online survey was completed by 42 participants, 31 who ran closed access and 11 who ran open-access settings. Results indicated that all settings were running the same number of days and hours pre-March lockdown, however, fewer children are attending with a smaller number of staff, this being more noticeable within closed access settings. It appears the open access adventure playgrounds are operating as they were pre-March 2020 lockdown, however, the closed access childcare provision, e.g. after-school clubs are still running as they were in July 2020. Although funding has been made available to support aspects such as extra cleaning, playwork settings are concerned with being able to open and continue to operate.

In 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued "Guidelines for Preschool Education (GPE) (trial version)" to call on early childhood practitioners to use a child-centred and play-based approach to teaching and learning. In order to implement the requirements, many kindergartens in China have carried out the play-based kindergarten curriculum reform. Among them, there are three successful trial cases in China on putting play as the core and base activity in kindergarten. They are Anji play in Zhejiang province (south east China), Lijin play in Shandong Province (east China) and Gamification of the curriculum in Jiangsu Province (east China). All the kindergartens there whether private or public start to change the old group teaching and return play to young children. The similarities of three play modes are: open and constantly changing play environment, adequate play time, multiple teachers' roles and child-centred play evaluation. Play-based curriculum in these three cases are top-down reform, which is the most effective way in China.

Playing in natural environments is a popular activity for young children. In previous years, studies have shown benefits of playing in natural environment for children's motor development and attention restoration. In this study, we explored the relation between playing in natural environments and children's language use. A total of N = 18 children (4-7 years) from three Dutch primary schools participated. To measure children's language use during outdoor play, we recorded their utterances for ten minutes while playing in a non-nature-based playground and a nature-based playground. Audio tapes were transcribed and coded using a coding scheme focusing on communicative functions. Findings indicated that children used more language and more complex language while playing in the nature-based playground. Additionally, four themes were identified: (1) Children used language to refer to their play situation; (2) Children used language to refer to the elements of their physical play environment; (3) Compared to the non-nature-based playground, children talked more about the objects of the nature-based playground; and (4) Children talked more about science and math concepts. Play in the nature-based playground appeared to be a richer conversational setting for language use than the non-nature-based playground, with a potential to scaffold and guide language use.

As elementary schools expand to include Prekindergarten (PreK), many elementary school physical education teachers are surprised to find PreK classes on their teaching schedule. Equally, many PreK classroom teachers are recognizing the need for quality movement opportunities for their students and are searching for resources that can help all children reach recommendations for physical activity (PA). Both types of teachers may feel ill-equipped and even ill-informed to address the needs of this age group. This article is intended to help teachers better understand the activity needs of PreK students, the benefits of PA, and recommended strategies to embrace.

Research demonstrates that physical activity is essential for a child's well-being, learning and motor development. The purpose of this article is to qualitatively explore how female and male kindergarten staff promote physical activity towards boys and girls in the outdoor playground of a Norwegian kindergarten consisting of fifty children (twenty-eight girls and twenty-two boys) and ten adults (two males and eight females). Observations were used as method. The findings demonstrate that male staff were more spontaneous and physical with the children and promoting more Rough and Tumble play, the latter often attracting more boys. Female staff tended to promote more games with rules and practice play, in addition to bringing the indoor activity out to the playground, the latter often more appealing to girls. However, female staff working in the same unit as male staff seemed to be more physically active compared to the unit constituting only female staff.

We investigate the importance of spatial, material, and organisational factors to gendered peer relations on the school football pitch. The study is part of an ethnographic research project exploring the relations between school bullying and the institutional context of schooling, focusing on the perspectives of teachers and pupils from preschool class up to grade eight (approximately ages 5-13). The findings in this study are based on participant observations and semi-structured interviews with pupils at three schools in Sweden. Our findings illustrate how social-ecological elements of spatial, material, and organisational factors such as school design, the material construction of the pitches, and the temporal organisation of the space through scheduling promote gendered positioning and fevered interactions which influence peer relations and sometimes contribute to degrading treatment, harassment and bullying. Our study demonstrates how these processes need to be understood as complexly related to social-ecological factors beyond the football pitch setting.

Friendship is of paramount importance to children's holistic well-being and development. Friendship often runs smoothly, but when it runs into difficulties this can be unsettling and time consuming, particularly after the lunchtime break. This article makes an original contribution by placing the lunchtime period under scrutiny and specifically the role of lunchtime welfare supervisors in supporting children's friendships. I adopt a case study approach, of year two provision (six- and seven-year-olds), involving five lunch time welfare supervisors and a Headteacher. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, field notes and visual images. Findings provide new insights into specific strategies in the 'Friendship Toolkit' employed by Lunchtime Welfare Supervisors [LWS] to support children's friendships, including calming down techniques, the use of a 'put it right area', playground leaders and post lunchtime briefing meetings. By way of conclusion, I argue that while lunchtime welfare supervisors have been somewhat overlooked in the literature, their role is significant for promoting and developing opportunities for 'children's friendship agency' and, when required, bespoke friendship support. LWS are therefore pivotal to children's holistic well-being, learning and development and how children experience school life. Consequently, the role of the LWS in supporting children's friendships has implications for practice through the application of the 'friendship toolkit' of strategies and providing opportunities for 'children's friendship agency'.

Direct experience with nature is a primary component of environmental education and especially beneficial for young children. The present study examined the outdoor play preferences of toddlers and investigated the role teachers play in the outdoor space. Toddlers' outdoor play was video recorded by GoPro cameras and coded for preferred play locations and initiator of the play. Results showed that the three most preferred spaces for toddlers in the outdoor classroom were the sandbox, swing area, and play structures; least frequently visited were open areas close to the classrooms, the garden, and the tree area. In addition, toddlers initiated play 71% of the time whereas teachers initiated approximately 11% of the time and mostly in the swing area. Findings indicate that teachers may play a role in where toddlers prefer to play. Implications for teacher preparation regarding environmental education are discussed.

The aim of this study was twofold: (a) to carry out an in-depth investigation of teachers and parental views regarding outdoor play and learning, and (b) to examine the extent to which the objectives and goals related to outdoor play and learning were documented within the school curriculum. The data were collected qualitatively from 12 teachers and 35 parents whose children were enrolled in one school. Data collection occurred through observations, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. It was shown that parental concerns relative to the weather, children's hygiene, and safety of play, influenced the outdoor practices of teachers as well as the children's access to the outdoors. Teachers' monthly plans also differed based on seasonal weather changes and differences in age groups. The findings shed light on the need for mutual communication and collaboration between teachers and parents regarding the benefits outdoor play and learning provided to children.

Recess is an important and unique component of the school day, and yet there is a relative paucity of research on its impact on young children. Moreover, recesses are often perceived negatively by educators because they can detract from academic instructional time and, depending on the kind of play and interactions between students, may also be times of social conflict and, in some cases, exclusion and bullying. This article examines several facets of recess and its importance: it outlines what students do at recess and the social processes that take place, as well as challenges specific to recess time, and its impact on social-emotional learning. It then reviews what constitutes a high-quality recess and synthesizes scholarship on the effectiveness of recess interventions around the world. The article evaluates whether recess is ultimately a help or a hindrance to young children's social-emotional development, and concludes with both policy and practice recommendations for educators.

We investigated the role of physical characteristics of kindergartens' outdoor play areas in teacher-rated physical aggression (PAgg) among 423 children followed annually from ages two to four years. We used data from the Behaviour Outlook Norwegian Developmental Study which follows children from southeast Norway, a country where almost all two- to four-year-old children attend kindergartens. Nesting children in kindergartens, we found two significant associations after adjustment for family selection. First, children in kindergartens with more 'secret places' in their outdoor play areas (where they could play undisturbed) had more PAgg at baseline. Second, children in kindergartens with more adult supervision of their use of outdoor play material showed a less steep decrease in PAgg over time. If causal, these associations would suggest that children in kindergartens should not play completely unmonitored but also that teachers should not control children's outdoor play excessively.

Intentional approaches to designing and structuring learning environments apply outdoors as well as indoors, but the value of freedom and unrestricted play outside is well known. However, several factors influence teachers' provision of freedom within outdoor activities, and it is important to reflect on these variables and appropriate degrees of freedom. As these variables depend partly on the cultural context, cases of early years contexts in England and Turkey were compared in this study. Interviews and observation notes were used to collect data, together with images from observations for further reflection. Findings indicate the impacts of national policies, spatial qualities, and pedagogical values of teachers on how 'freedom' is managed and children's opportunities for autonomous action are enacted within activities.

The prevalence of bullying worldwide is high (UNESCO, 2018). Over the past decades, many anti-bullying interventions have been developed to remediate this problem. However, we lack insight into for whom these interventions work and what individual intervention components drive the total intervention effects. We conducted a large-scale individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis using data from 39,793 children and adolescents aged five to 20 years (M[subscript age] = 12.58, SD = 2.34) who had participated in quasi-experimental or randomized controlled trials of school-based anti-bullying interventions (i.e., 10 studies testing nine interventions). Multilevel logistic regression analyses showed that anti-bullying interventions significantly reduced self-reported victimization (d = - 0.14) and bullying perpetration (d = - 0.07). Anti-bullying interventions more strongly reduced bullying perpetration in younger participants (i.e., under age 12) and victimization for youth who were more heavily victimized before the intervention. We did not find evidence to show that the inclusion of specific intervention components was related to higher overall intervention effects, except for an iatrogenic effect of non-punitive disciplinary methods--which was strongest for girls. Exploratory analyses suggested that school assemblies and playground supervision may have harmful effects for some, increasing bullying perpetration in youth who already bullied frequently at baseline. In conclusion, school-based anti-bullying interventions are generally effective and work especially well for younger children and youth who are most heavily victimized. Further tailoring of interventions may be necessary to more effectively meet the needs and strengths of specific subgroups of children and adolescents.

Background: National adherence to the recess recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has not been comprehensively studied in the United States. Methods: Data from 6 nationally representative data sets over the last decade (Classification of Laws Associated with School Students, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, National Youth Fitness Survey, School Health Policies and Practices Survey, and the School Nutrition and Meal Cost Study) provided estimates for adherence to CDC recess guidelines. Results: While approximately 65-80% of elementary school-children receive the recommended 20+ minutes of daily recess according to parent-, principal-, and school-report, adherence declines by sixth grade, and little information is available for middle/high school students. Adherence to playground safety was high (90%), but adherence to recommendations about recess before lunch (<50%), withholding recess as punishment (~50%), and training recess staff (<50%) were lower. Conclusions: School policy and practice should align with CDC recommendations, with the aim of providing sufficient quality recess to all youth, K-12th grade. Comprehensive, on-going national surveillance of multiple recess domains is needed to inform policy and ensure equitable provision of recess.

Presently, fathers spend more time with their children when compared with the fathers of previous ages and play compromises the majority of the father-child shared time. Few researches that investigated the roles of fathers during their play with children made use of (1) home-based or laboratory-based observations with pre-determined play materials and (2) conducted Western cultures. These two characteristics of previous studies have led to this study, which is conducted in Turkey, a country that is relatively collectivistic and based on observations of father-child play in a public playground which is a natural play-setting. Nine (9) different father-child dads were observed in a public playground for approximately 30 min. The researcher was the main observer during this process. The findings revealed seven different role categories, three of which were newly found in the current study. These seven categories were merged under two different themes. The discussion of findings which centered on the ides of father-child play were influenced by the culture and the context that it occurs.

In this study, the play preferences of 80 five-year-old children, 40 girls and 40 boys, from four schools in Turkey and the characteristics that shape their preferred plays were examined. The research was designed by descriptive method, which is one of the qualitative research patterns, and the data were collected using draw-and-tell technique. Crayons and drawing papers were distributed to the children participating in the study and they were asked to draw a play they wanted to play. During the drawing, the children were interviewed by asking questions. Thematic analysis method was used in the study; open coding was performed to group the drawings and interview records of the children under the themes and sub-themes. As a result of thematic analysis, five main themes were created regarding the plays preferred by children and how and where they prefer to play them. The results showed that all children preferred open-ended plays, they mostly prefer modern plays (50%) (type of play), playing with friends (44%) (social connection), dynamic plays (69%) (physical function), indoors plays (54%) (playground) and to use ready-made toys (42%) (toys used).

Research on teaching and learning in integrated education has focused on connections between arts and non-arts domains to provide a comprehensive experience for K-12 learners. Recently, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) education has explored arts integration for more effective STEM learning. However, effective integration is often elusive; the arts are sometimes diluted as a consequence of well-intentioned integration within STEM subjects, with STEM learning risking similar superficial treatment within arts curricula. This qualitative pilot study focuses on The EcoSonic Playground Project (ESPP) -- an integrated STEAM project for students of all ages -- and evaluates its effectiveness from a co-equal integration standpoint, where participants use skills across STEM and arts areas equally in service of a common, musical goal. Findings suggested that this project supported, the application of existing cognitive and social-emotional skills and STEAM practices within an arts framework while fostering in participants the synthesis of new connections among skill areas. While recognizing findings are context specific, conclusions and recommendations may be of particular interest to educators and researchers exploring STEAM or other arts integration initiatives in the classroom.

A high prevalence of medical conditions affects the typical motor development of learners in the West Coast District of South Africa. Given the strong correlation between motor skill performance and academic achievement, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of motor skill impairment among Grade R learners (5-7-year olds) enrolled in public schools in the area. Multistage cluster sampling was used to identify 6 schools from which all Grade R learners were invited to participate. Following ethical approval, 138 learners' gross and fine motor skills were assessed using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children 2nd edition (M-ABC2). Results indicate that the prevalence of significant motor skill impairment in this region was high at 14.5%, and that the prevalence of children with manual dexterity difficulties was very high, at 24.6% (i.e. scores below the 15th percentile of the M-ABC2) when compared to global statistics, yet comparable to countries with a similar socio-economic structure. The prevalence of children with balance difficulties was 18.1%, while the prevalence of children with difficulties in aiming and catching was low at 4.3%. Pearson's correlation indicates that gender (male), a lack of playground equipment and low weight/height are factors associated with learners' poor manual dexterity, while poor manual dexterity and balance skills were associated with learners attending no-fee schools. The study confirms that motor skill difficulties are a significant problem in this region and calls for further research to address the problem.