Publication Date
| In 2026 | 0 |
| Since 2025 | 7 |
| Since 2022 (last 5 years) | 38 |
| Since 2017 (last 10 years) | 103 |
| Since 2007 (last 20 years) | 220 |
Descriptor
| Cognitive Development | 671 |
| Play | 671 |
| Child Development | 214 |
| Social Development | 185 |
| Young Children | 163 |
| Preschool Children | 162 |
| Early Childhood Education | 158 |
| Preschool Education | 118 |
| Infants | 108 |
| Foreign Countries | 97 |
| Language Acquisition | 93 |
| More ▼ | |
Source
Author
| Landry, Susan H. | 6 |
| Ramey, Craig T. | 6 |
| Bergen, Doris | 5 |
| Pellegrini, Anthony D. | 5 |
| Rubin, Kenneth H. | 5 |
| Fein, Greta G. | 4 |
| Howe, Nina | 4 |
| Pellegrini, A. D. | 4 |
| Russ, Sandra W. | 4 |
| Spodek, Bernard, Ed. | 4 |
| Bornstein, Marc H. | 3 |
| More ▼ | |
Publication Type
Education Level
| Early Childhood Education | 91 |
| Preschool Education | 47 |
| Elementary Education | 32 |
| Kindergarten | 18 |
| Primary Education | 12 |
| Elementary Secondary Education | 8 |
| Adult Education | 5 |
| Higher Education | 5 |
| Grade 1 | 4 |
| Grade 3 | 3 |
| Grade 4 | 2 |
| More ▼ | |
Audience
| Parents | 39 |
| Practitioners | 28 |
| Researchers | 18 |
| Teachers | 17 |
| Students | 4 |
| Administrators | 1 |
| Policymakers | 1 |
Location
| Australia | 12 |
| Canada | 8 |
| South Africa | 7 |
| United Kingdom | 7 |
| United States | 7 |
| Germany | 6 |
| Turkey | 6 |
| China | 3 |
| Finland | 3 |
| France | 3 |
| Hong Kong | 3 |
| More ▼ | |
Laws, Policies, & Programs
| No Child Left Behind Act 2001 | 4 |
| Education Consolidation… | 3 |
| Elementary and Secondary… | 1 |
| Elementary and Secondary… | 1 |
| Individuals with Disabilities… | 1 |
Assessments and Surveys
What Works Clearinghouse Rating
| Meets WWC Standards without Reservations | 1 |
| Meets WWC Standards with or without Reservations | 1 |
| Does not meet standards | 1 |
Peer reviewed
Direct linkRachel A. Gordon; Sandra W. Russ; Anastasia Dimitropoulos – Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 2024
Background: Children with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) display impaired pretend play abilities, reflective of broader social-cognitive challenges. Pretend play interventions for children with PWS demonstrate preliminary efficacy for improving cognitive and affective processes in play. It is unknown which specific intervention strategies, such as…
Descriptors: Children, Preadolescents, Genetic Disorders, Play
Download full textBrian Stone – International Journal of the Whole Child, 2024
Early experiences in STEM education can contribute to positive cognitive development in young children. When students have the opportunities to play, inquire, follow their interests/curiosities, develop STEM identities, be creative, and operate within concrete/contextualized STEM explorations, they will experience expansive cognitive growth.…
Descriptors: Early Childhood Education, STEM Education, Child Development, Cognitive Development
Tess Allegra Forest; Layla Bradford; Lorna Ginnell; Maroussia Berger; Donna Herr; Emmie Mbale; Kavindya Dalawella; Chloë A. Jacobs; Chikondi Mchazime; Celia D'Amato; Zamazimba Madi; Pious Clifford Mkaka; Claudia Espinoza-Heredia; Tembeka Mhlakwaphalwa; Vukiwe Ngoma; Monique Gilmore; Marlie Miles; Jinge Ren; Nwabisa Mlandu; Reese Samuels; Michal R. Zieff; Melissa Gladstone; Kirsten A. Donald; Dima Amso – Child Development, 2025
Cognitive development is associated with how predictable caregivers are, but the mechanisms driving this are unclear. One possibility is caregiver predictability initially shapes how infants gather information for learning. Here, caregiver-infant dyads (N = 222, 2-6-months-old, all female caregivers; data collected 2022-2023) in South Africa and…
Descriptors: Child Caregivers, Caregiver Child Relationship, Infants, Eye Movements
Orr, Edna – Early Child Development and Care, 2022
For the current study, a multi-measure, micro-analytic approach was used to prospectively explore the role of preliminary symbolic play with single and multi-objects in language milestone development and vice versa. Fourteen infants followed up in monthly one hour sessions between the ages of 8 and 16 months. Their spontaneous play acts and vocal…
Descriptors: Play, Language Acquisition, Infants, Cognitive Development
Hassinger-Das, Brenna; Schwartz, Rebecca; Tavdgiridze, Mari; Mercedes, Nayrovi; Salerno, Marie; Takoukam, Nowou Cyrielle Talla; Gamzehlatova, Joshua; Zosh, Jennifer M. – American Journal of Play, 2023
The authors examined technological and traditional infant toys to understand the U.S. toy market facing today's care givers. They found significant differences in the two types of toys in terms of their developmental targets--with more traditional toys aimed at physical development and more technological toys aimed at cognitive development. Given…
Descriptors: Toys, Infants, Play, Technology
Joseph Colantonio; Ilona Bass; Yee Lee Shing; Sobanawartiny Wijeakumar; Courtney McKay; Eva Rafetseder; Allyson P. Mackey; Elizabeth Bonawitz – Developmental Science, 2025
Although exploratory play is considered a hallmark of cognitive development and learning, relatively few studies have been able to quantitatively characterize the shifts that may occur in children's approach to exploration. One reason for this gap is due to challenges coding and analyzing children's exploratory play behavior. In our paper, we…
Descriptors: Computation, Cognitive Development, Children, Discovery Learning
Duval, Stéphanie; Montminy, Noémie; Brault Foisy, Lorie-Marlène; Arapi, Enkeleda; Vézina, Sophie-Anne – Early Child Development and Care, 2023
This study aims to bridge a gap between Vygotsky's seminal framework on the importance of make-believe play and adult scaffolding in children's cognitive development (e.g. executive function [EFs]) and research in cognitive neuroscience. Kindergarten children (N = 160) and teachers (N = 12) took part in the study. EFs skills and make-believe play…
Descriptors: Scaffolding (Teaching Technique), Imagination, Play, Executive Function
Lee, Joohi; Joswick, Candace; Pole, Kathryn – Early Childhood Education Journal, 2023
This is a conceptual paper based on existing literature aiming to provide practical information on designing and implementing activities to promote children's computational thinking. Computational thinking is a relatively new term in early childhood education that refers to a specific problem-solving thinking process involving various logical and…
Descriptors: Play, Class Activities, Computation, Thinking Skills
Jennifer Van Reet – Journal of Cognition and Development, 2024
Pretend play is often hypothesized in a global sense to be an effective context for young children's learning, but there is much still to learn about whether all types of information can be learned equally and whether all types of pretend play are equally beneficial. The present study tests whether preschoolers can learn a simple, novel causal…
Descriptors: Preschool Children, Preschool Education, Play, Conventional Instruction
Mensure Alkis Küçükaydin – Teacher Development, 2024
This study examined the effect of play-based practices implemented with a national project on the development of Turkish primary school teachers' perceptions of play. Thirty primary school teachers participated in the study, and the play-based applications lasted six days. Sample play activities were taught to the teachers, and then they were…
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Elementary School Teachers, Play, Teacher Attitudes
Alaitz Martín-García; Markel Rico-González – European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 2024
The present article aims to systematically summarize the effects of free-play (FP) on preschool-aged children's physical activity (PA) level, and motor (MC), cognitive (CC), and socioemotional competence evaluated through randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. A systematic review of relevant articles was carried out using two electronic…
Descriptors: Play, Young Children, Physical Activity Level, Psychomotor Skills
Emanuel J. Mason; Karin Lifter; Amanda Cannarella; Haley Medeiros – Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 2024
This paper follows an earlier report of young children's object play activities investigated in a cross-sectional sample of 289 typically developing children. Thirty-minute videotaped observations were taken of children at 8, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, and 60 months of age in their homes. Forty-nine percent were boys. Children were identified…
Descriptors: Infants, Toddlers, Preschool Children, Play
Sandra Jensen-Willett; Andrea Cunha; Michele A. Lobo; Regina Harbourne; Stacey C. Dusing; Sarah W. McCoy; Natalie A. Koziol; Lin-Ya Hsu; Emily C. Marcinowski; Iryna Babik; Mihee An; James A. Bovaird – Grantee Submission, 2022
Purpose: This case series documents developmental changes over time and in response to a novel intervention, Sitting Together and Reaching to Play (START-Play), in children with early-life seizures. Methods: Thirteen children with early-life seizures were included from a subset of participants in the START-Play multisite, randomized controlled…
Descriptors: Seizures, Cognitive Development, Motor Development, Child Development
Harry Kipkemoi Bett – Early Child Development and Care, 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic had far-reaching effects on school-going children. With the indefinite closure of schools in many parts of the world, many children found themselves with limited avenues for play and interaction. The current qualitative study, anchored on social capital theory, aimed at investigating the informal learning that took place as…
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Informal Education, Rural Areas, COVID-19
Seongmi Lim – International Journal of Early Years Education, 2025
Identifying preservice teachers' perspectives about play and their role as a teacher in play is critical because their perspectives are related to how they organise and involve play in early childhood education. However, very few empirical studies have been conducted to examine how preservice teachers view play. In the present study, 46 preservice…
Descriptors: Preschool Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, Preschool Education, Child Development
