4-6 year-old Children's Experience of Subjective Well-being and Social Relations in ECEC institutions.

There is a need for research about children’s perspectives on their everyday lives in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions, using methods that involves the children themselves and takes their voices seriously. This study aims at exploring what promotes and constrains children’s wellbeing in light of their social relations to other children and staff in ECEC institutions. Research on children’s own perspectives about their well-being has mainly been conducted among children older than those of preschool age, and therefore this study aimed at highlighting the voices of 4-6-year-old children regarding how they experience their lives in ECEC institutions. Quantitative data was collected through conversations with 171 Norwegian 4-6-year-old children based on an electronic questionnaire. The results indicate that relations, both with other children and with the practitioners, are important for children’s well-being - particularly, liking the other children and experiencing that the children are kind to each other in the ECEC.acceptedVersio

Children’s Perception and Utilization of ECEC Physical Environments

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions play an important role in many young children’s lives. Child-oriented research about the role of the physical ECEC environment in children’s play is scarce. The present study aims to develop knowledge about what children consider crucial elements in the physical ECEC environment. Seventy-one children (3–6 years old) were interviewed to gain insight into their perspectives on the physical ECEC environment. This study indicates that children desire a physical ECEC environment with various affordances supporting different play possibilities and that the social context influences how children may interact with the physical environment. The design of the physical ECEC environment is crucial to children’s everyday play experiences while in care.publishedVersio

Gender matters: male and female ECEC practitioners’ perceptions and practices regarding children's rough-and-tumble play (R&T)

The aim of this study was to explore Norwegian early childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners’ perceptions and practices regarding children’s indoor and outdoor rough-and-tumble play (R&T) from a gender perspective. A questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used together in a mixed method design to provide quantitative data of patterns among a larger group of ECEC practitioners, as well as to gather greater in-depth insights on ECEC practitioners’ attitudes, thoughts and actions concerning children’s R&T. The results of the study showed that ECEC practitioners acknowledged both positive and negative sides of R&T; that they allowed this kind of play significantly more in outdoor environments than indoors, and that R&T often produced uncertainty and a need for control by the practitioners. The most surprising result from the questionnaire was the lack of gender differences in allowing children’s R&T in ECEC. However, the interviews revealed that although a basic difference in attitudes between male and female practitioners originally existed, female practitioners changed their attitudes and practices towards R&T as a result of gaining more knowledge and experience of this play through their male colleagues. In addition, a high consciousness of trying to adopt common understandings, rules and practices regarding R&T also contributed to a change of attitudes.acceptedVersio

Identifying and characterizing risky play in the age one-to-three years

While research has investigated risk-taking in play for children from the age of four years upwards, less is known of risky play with children under four years. A small-scale observational study with children from five childcare settings with differing characteristics was undertaken to explore the occurrence and characteristics of risky play for children under four years of age, in relation to the current understanding of risky play. The study found similarities across the different contexts, which seem to reflect the characteristics of risky play for children aged one to three years. The findings suggest that the existing definition and characteristics of risky play are appropriate for two- and three-year-old children, but for one-year-olds, the study found discrepancies indicating deviations from existing definitions, indicating that the concept may not be so useful for this age group. To develop understanding of risky play, this article suggests new categories and an adapted definition.publishedVersio

"We Don't Allow Children to Climb Trees": How a Focus on Safety Affects Norwegian Children's Play in Early-Childhood Education and Care Settings

On one hand, we want to keep children as safe as possible; on the other, learning to take risks is a normal part of childhood and child development. In Norway, research has shown that early-childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners have, in the past, taken a permissive approach to children’s risk taking. In this article, the authors surveys ECEC managers to explore how the increasing focus on safety in Norwegian society affects ECEC programs. They find the previously more relaxed attitudes regarding risky play among children to be changing in such settings. They describe restrictions recently introduced into everyday program activities, and they discuss the implications both for ECEC pedagogy and for children’s play, learning, and development.acceptedVersio

Identifying and characterizing risky play in the age one-to-three years

While research has investigated risk-taking in play for children from the age of four years upwards, less is known of risky play with children under four years. A small-scale observational study with children from five childcare settings with differing characteristics was undertaken to explore the occurrence and characteristics of risky play for children under 4 years of age, in relation to the current understanding of risky play. The study found similarities across the different contexts, which seem to reflect the characteristics of risky play for children one-to-three years of age. The findings suggest that the existing definition and characteristics of risky play are appropriate for two- and three-year-old children, but for one-year-olds, the study found discrepancies indicating deviations from existing definitions, indicating that the concept may not be so useful for this age group. To develop understanding of risky play, this paper suggests new categories and an adapted definition.acceptedVersio

Children’s Risky Play from an Evolutionary Perspective: The Anti-Phobic Effects of Thrilling Experiences

This theoretical article views children’s risky play from an evolutionary perspective, addressing specific evolutionary functions and especially the anti-phobic effects of risky play. According to the non-associative theory, a contemporary approach to the etiology of anxiety, children develop fears of certain stimuli (e.g., heights and strangers) that protect them from situations they are not mature enough to cope with, naturally through infancy. Risky play is a set of motivated behaviors that both provide the child with an exhilarating positive emotion and expose the child to the stimuli they previously have feared. As the child’s coping skills improve, these situations and stimuli may be mastered and no longer be feared. Thus fear caused by maturational and age relevant natural inhibition is reduced as the child experiences a motivating thrilling activation, while learning to master age adequate challenges. It is concluded that risky play may have evolved due to this anti-phobic effect in normal child development, and it is suggested that we may observe an increased neuroticism or psychopathology in society if children are hindered from partaking in age adequate risky play.Children’s Risky Play from an Evolutionary Perspective: The Anti-Phobic Effects of Thrilling ExperiencespublishedVersio

The Prevalence of Risky Play in Young Children’s Indoor and Outdoor Free Play

Research on children’s risky play and young children’s risk taking is a relatively new research area that has drawn the attention of many researchers in the last decades. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, no earlier studies have measured the prevalence of risky play when children can freely choose what to play, with whom, and where. Most research on risky play has also exclusively focused on outdoor play. This study aims at examining the occurrence and characteristics of children’s risky play, indoors and outdoors, in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions. Children (N=80) were observed in twominute sequences during periods of the day when they were free to choose what to do. The data consists of 1878 randomly recorded two-minute videos, which were coded second by second for the occurrence of several categories of risky play. Results revealed that risky play was registered in 10.3% of the total data material. The data is further analysed to explore distribution among diferent types of risky play, as well as diferences between gender, age and environment (indoors vs. outdoors).publishedVersio

The relationship between indoor environments and children’s play – confined spaces and materials

The provision of environments that support and afford play is fundamental for young children’s experiences, learning and development. Play environments of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions are therefore of great importance for the opportunities provided children to create and engage in a wide range of play. This study examines the association between Norwegian ECEC institutions’ indoor environment (spaces and materials) and children’s engagement in different types of play. Children (3– 6 years, N = 86) were observed in two-minute sequences during periods of the day when they were free to choose what to do. The data consists of 943 randomly recorded two-minute videos, which were coded second-bysecond to register the type of play occurring, the space in which it occurred and the materials children used. The results show that the indoor environment in the participating ECEC institutions afforded predictable play types in what could be called confined spaces designed and furnished for certain kinds of play activities. The authors discuss how this helps practitioners maintain predictability and control of children’s play, while on the other hand, it restricts children’s play and freedom to bring their own initiatives, ideas and creativity into the play in unpredictable ways.publishedVersio

The Role of Play and Objects in Children’s Deep-LevelLearning in Early Childhood Education

This research investigates the significance of the physical environment in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions as a facilitator of deep-level learning. Building upon Laevers’ concept of deep-level learning, this study explores the interplay between objects in ECEC settings, children’s play, and their deep-level learning. The primary objective is to examine the potential mediating role of play in the relationship between objects and deep-level learning. The research methodology involves the analysis of a sample consisting of 928 two-minute video observations collected from eight ECEC institutions in Norway. The results demonstrate a positive association between children’s engagement in play, their utilization of objects, and deep-level learning. The findings suggest that constructive and symbolic play partly mediate the positive relationship between deep-level learning and object utilization. These outcomes highlight the pivotal role of play in early childhood education and emphasize how elements within the physical environment can effectively support children’s learning.publishedVersio