Using a content analysis method, this study develops a culturally based inventory of play categories from parents and children reports and explores how such types of play varies in environment and time. A total of 171 parent–child dyads from 13 Hong Kong kindergartens participated in the study. Results reveal that play practices reported from Hong Kong parents and children are categorised into four types. Data from parents and children show that a high frequency of symbolic and sociodramatic play is arranged on weekdays, whereas place-specific activity is the most frequently arranged in weekends. The qualitative quotes from parent and children interviews share the consistent view which reflects symbolic and sociodramatic play as the most liked activities. However, findings exhibit the inconsistent view on the most wanted play activities. Implications of these findings and suggestions about parental involvement and play facilitation for children are discussed. Copyright © 2022 Routledge.

Background: Early childhood is a critical period during which patterns of movement behaviors are formed. The World Health Organization had endorsed guidelines for physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep over a 24-h time period, which had been adopted by the Center for Health Protection of Hong Kong. This paper reports on stakeholder engagements that were conducted to inform the design of strategies to disseminate the guidelines in early childhood education (ECE) settings. Methods: Using a mixed-methods study design, we sought to (a) assess the stakeholders' levels of awareness and knowledge of the Hong Kong movement guidelines for young children and (b) identify the factors that influence the uptake of the said guidelines. We conducted an online survey of early childhood education teachers (N =314), twelve focus groups involving teachers (N = 18) and parents (N = 18), and individual interviews of key informants (N = 7) and domestic workers who provide care for preschool-aged children (N = 7). Descriptive statistics were used for the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data using an inductive and semantic approach following a realist framework. Findings: Our findings show that teachers were aware of the movement guidelines for young children, but their knowledge of the specific guidelines was deficient; parents and domestic workers had limited awareness and knowledge of the guidelines. Uptake of the movement guidelines is enabled by parent engagement, activities in the ECE centers, home-school cooperation, and community activities for children. The challenges include the time poverty of parents, local curriculum requirements, limited physical spaces, social values, and pandemic-related restrictions. Conclusion: We recommend that dissemination strategies in the ECE context should deliver knowledge content and support stakeholders in mitigating the challenges associated with time, space, and social conditions. Copyright © 2022

High-quality caregiver-child relationships are critical to healthy development, including the acquisition of language and literacy skills. However, their potential benefits to early mathematical development and its underlying mechanisms have been minimally explored. In view that language and literacy development play prominent roles in mathematical development, this study investigated whether very young children’s relationship quality with parents and teachers were linked with their mathematical ability through language and literacy abilities. One hundred and thirty two-year-olds from pre-nursery classes in Hong Kong were tested on their early academic abilities. Furthermore, their parents and teachers evaluated on questionnaires the quality of their relationships with the children. Results of path analyses indicated that after controlling for children’s age, parent–child closeness was associated with children’s mathematical ability via language ability. Teacher–child closeness had a direct link to children’s mathematical ability, as well as indirect links through language and literacy abilities. Parent–child conflict and teacher–child conflict had neither direct nor indirect relations with children’s mathematical ability. These results suggest that mathematical development is interwoven with language and literacy development beginning in the early years. Also, parents and teachers should be reminded the importance of building close and affectionate relationships with very young children when nurturing the foundation for academic development. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

In the face of COVID-19, many schools have to educate their students using online activities. During this time, whether and how parents are involved may be of particular importance for young children—who are less able to learn independently via the Internet due to their developmental immaturity. Therefore, this study examined the cross-sectional association of maternal involvement in child online learning with child adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic and tested maternal mindfulness as a moderator. Data were collected from 236 mothers of kindergarten-aged children (mean age = 55.91 months; 75% of them were girls) during the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong, China. Using paper-and-pencil questionnaires, mothers rated their involvement and mindfulness and their children’s pre-academic ability and internalizing and externalizing behaviors and provide demographic information. Regression models revealed that maternal involvement was associated positively with child pre-academic ability and negatively with child internalizing behaviors, but such associations were only significant for children with more mindful mothers. Maternal mindfulness did not moderate the negative association between maternal involvement and child externalizing behaviors. Findings highlighted the role of maternal mindfulness in child development, suggesting that it may be crucial to promote maternal involvement and mindfulness during the pandemic and perhaps beyond. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s).

This study examined the relationships between principals’ leadership practices (LP), professional learning community (PLC), teachers’ perceptions of self-efficacy (TE) and whole-child development (WCD) in the context of kindergarten education. A total of 2120 Hong Kong kindergarten teachers participated in the study. Results showed that LP had positive effects on five components of PLC; LP facilitated teachers’ perceived WCD directly and indirectly through the mediation of three PLC components, namely shared sense of purpose, collaborative activity and a collective focus on child learning. Moreover, three PLC components (i.e., a collective focus on child learning, deprivatized practice and reflective dialogue) had positive effects on teachers’ perceived WCD via self-efficacy. The implications for enhancing PLCs in kindergartens are discussed. Copyright © 2019 All Academic, Inc.

Research Findings: This study investigated the relationship between the use of digital devices (DD) by preschool children in Hong Kong and their early development. The moderating role of family socioeconomic status (SES) was also examined. A total of 877 Chinese Hong Kong children aged 3–5 years old from 18 kindergartens and their parents participated in this study. The parents reported their children's DD use, including whether they used DD, the daily time spent using DD, what they used DD for, and the situations in which they used DD. The Hong Kong Early Child Development Scales and Movement Assessment Battery for Children were used to understand these children's development in various domains. The results showed that 74.54% of the children had experience using DD. Use of DD and time spent using DD were found to negatively predict children's performance on General Knowledge, Fine Motor Skills, and Gross Motor Skills. Watching cartoons was found to negatively predict children's performance on Early Academic Achievement, General Knowledge, and Fine Motor Skills. Children's DD use before bedtime or on request also had a negative relationship with their performance on Fine Motor Skills. Moreover, SES had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between children's use of DD before bed and their performance on General Knowledge. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest that parents reduce the time and frequency of their children's DD use, monitor their DD activities, and prevent them from using DD before bedtime. Copyright © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

大自然是幼兒早期成長階段的重要學習環境。幼兒樂於在充滿趣味的大自然環境中探索和主動學習。而目前，在城市中生活的幼兒越來越缺乏和大自然接觸的機會，讓幼兒與大自然建立聯繫成為香港幼兒教育課程中的一個新的發展取向。本講座將分享香港幼師專業發展中加入大自然教育的歷程，包括幼師培訓課程及校本培訓的策略。此外，講者將分享幼兒在室内和室外融入大自然學習的經歷，探索透過多元模式的學習幫助幼兒主動探索社區周圍的大自然元素。The nature is an important learning environment for early years development. Young children are happy to explore and learn proactively in the interesting natural world, but those living in cities are losing touch with the nature. In the local context, the ECE curriculum is heading in a new direction to engage children with the nature. This seminar will present the trajectory of integrating nature education into local ECE teacher development, including strategies for ECE teacher education programmes and schoolbased teacher preparation. Furthermore, the seminar will also share the experience of immersing children in nature-based learning both indoor and outdoor, and investigate the use of multimodal learning to support young children in exploring the nature elements in the community proactively. Copyright © 2020 幼教研討會.

This study examined early development of cool and hot self-regulation and how they were related to Chinese preschoolers' early achievement. A total of 951 children (448 girls) aged three to five in Hong Kong participated in this study. Children's self-regulation was assessed with a battery of five tasks tapping either cool or hot self-regulation; early child development was assessed with items selected from the Hong Kong Early Child Development Scales. Mothers reported children's behaviors according to items selected from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire to understand children's emotional and behavior problems. The results identified a complex relationship between cool and hot self-regulation and cool and hot self-regulation were also found to predict children's achievement differently. These findings suggest the unique role of cool and hot self-regulation in early years and the importance of integrating both the cool and hot aspects of self-regulation in the research and practice arenas. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

There has been much discussion about the high performance of East Asian students in international high stakes testing, but little attention has been paid to their lifeworlds beyond school. In this article we explore findings from a survey of 627 Year 4 children (nine and ten years old) in three global cities (Hong Kong, Singapore, and Melbourne), focusing on their out-of-school activities as one aspect of their lifeworlds. The findings indicate that the most common activities in each location were comparable. Since the activities in the three locations were largely similar, the findings problematise East/West binaries which have been a feature of research and discussions in this area. Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.