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  • © 2020

Peer Play and Relationships in Early Childhood

International Research Perspectives

  • Provides international and culturally rich research into peer relationships
  • Voices different international initiatives and expresses contradictory perspectives
  • Presents new thinking about children's peer play, learning and development in contemporary worlds
  • Retheorises peer play relationships by valuing the research narratives in peer play

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. Long-Term Peer Play and Child Development

    • Pentti Hakkarinen
    Pages 11-26
  3. Toddler and Older Peer Play: Agentic Imagination and Joyful Learning

    • Avis Ridgway, Liang Li, Gloria Quiñones
    Pages 27-44
  4. Holding Hands: Toddlers’ Imaginary Peer Play

    • Gloria Quiñones, Avis Ridgway, Liang Li
    Pages 77-92
  5. Creating and Maintaining Play Connection in a Toddler Peer Group

    • Annukka Pursi, Lasse Lipponen
    Pages 93-111
  6. Children’s Peer Cultures and Playfulness at Mat Time

    • Anita Mortlock, Vanessa Green
    Pages 129-144
  7. Meaning Construction of Rules in Peer Play: A Case Study of Block Play

    • Lina Sun, Yu Chen, Yue-Juan Pan, Yan-Ling Ming
    Pages 145-160
  8. Mothers’ Attitudes Toward Peer Play

    • Milda Bredikyte, Monika Skeryte-Kazlauskiene
    Pages 161-177
  9. Togetherness and Awareness: Young Children’s Peer Play

    • Liang Li, Mong-Lin Yu
    Pages 179-195
  10. Looking Beyond Books and Blocks: Peers Playing Around with Concepts

    • Joanna Williamson, Daniel Lovatt, Helen Hedges
    Pages 197-213

About this book

This book offers a rich collection of international research narratives that reveal the qualities and value of peer play. It presents new understandings of peer play and relationships in chapters drawn from richly varied contexts that involve sibling play, collaborative peer play, and joint play with adults. The book explores social strategies such as cooperation, negotiation, playing with rules, expressing empathy, and sharing imaginary emotional peer play experiences. Its reconceptualization of peer play and relationships promotes new thinking on children's development in contemporary worlds. It shows how new knowledge generated about young children's play with peers illuminates how they learn and develop within and across communities, families, and educational settings in diverse cultural contexts. The book addresses issues that are relevant for parents, early years' professionals and academics, including the role of play in learning at school, the role of adults in self-initiated play, and the long-term impact of early friendships. The book makes clear how recent cultural differences involve digital, engineering and imaginary peer play.

The book follows a clear line of argument highlighting  the importance of play-based learning and stress the importance of further knowledge of children's interaction in their context.

This book aims to highlight the narration of peer play, mostly leaning on a sociocultural theoretical perspective, where many chapters have a cultural-historical theoretical frame and highlight children's social situation of development.

Polly Björk-Willén, Linköping University, Sweden

Editors and Affiliations

  • Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Avis Ridgway, Gloria Quiñones, Liang Li

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access