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The pre-kindergarten class featured in this video has been investigating several musical concepts for several months. In this experience, Jack is conducting his classmates in a drum ensemble. Before the video begins, the children were all playing the drums at the same time and were expressing frustration about being heard. Jack and his friend came up with a solution that the class agreed upon. Each person would be assigned a number, and when his/her number was called, it would be his/her turn to play.

This video captures a child-initiated game of Peek-a-Boo on the playground. It begins with two toddlers playing Peek-a- Boo over a fence. While they are enjoying this game, a third child attempts to join by popping up on one side of the partition. When this is unsuccessful, he leaves. A fourth child goes to an unoccupied partition and begins to pop up alone. Quickly, a fifth child accepts her invitation to create the game again.

Three-year-old Ella enjoys helping her younger friend Grace ride a tricycle. In her leadership role, Ella is challenged to guide the tricycle with a seated passenger. Notice that Ella is able to maneuver the tricycle more easily by pushing it backwards. However, Ella also makes an effort to move the tricycle in the forward direction. She may want Grace to experience riding the tricycle in a conventional manner, as the other nearby children are doing. Study how the act of guiding the tricycle and passenger encourages Ella to slow down and reflect on the movements required for navigation.

A good game needs a clear focus. The children are presented with a rimmed tray with a hole in the center. The empty container below clearly defines the goal of getting the ball to roll through the hole by tilting the tray. The tray is large enough to require a player on each side. To control the path of the ball the children need to split their attention between their own moves and their partners’ moves. An audience of peers motivates the children to play longer and shares in their fun.

A setup carefully staged to include a tablecloth, wooden plates, and a floral centerpiece, gives the children a sense of purpose. Notice the importance the toddlers assign to these props as the centerpiece becomes a catalyst for debate that encourages the children to negotiate. Sam (navy blue shirt) urges his friends to move the centerpiece to the counter. Colin (red and blue striped shirt) laments, “We don’t have a flower.” Colin may assume that the floral centerpiece, combined with the tablecloth, makes their experience more serious and authentic, like the world of adults.

Using balls, a ramp, and a drum, the teacher asks the children to figure out how to increase the number of bounces the balls make on the drum. The drum accentuates what happens on different rolls of the ball through a more visible bounce and an audible beat. The teacher challenges the children to produce three sounds by rolling only one ball. Note that the children repeatedly release the ball near the top of the ramp. The children assume that the farther they are from the drum, the more sounds they will produce. Typically, the more one does, the greater the effect.

Evan shows Jose, a new child, his favorite parts of the playground: the long wall with bays in which to hide, the holes in the wall through which to peer, and the jungle gym on which to climb. In the first segment Evan speaks and gestures to Jose, showing him how to put his foot next to the bottom of the wall. Perhaps he remembers how the children have used the wall as the start of a race. He continues down the wall to show Jose the recessed bays that create private spaces and perhaps a surprise, such as a hidden child.

In this video clip three-year-old Daniel is trying to climb up onto a large, cement cylinder. He says, “I need help getting up here.” Daniel may hope that a nearby adult will solve his problem by lifting him up. Soon, he decides to give it a try himself. Daniel jumps up and extends his body against the side of the cylinder, only to slide back down. Abby notices Daniel’s efforts and joins him at the cylinder. Notice that both children stretch their arms across the curved top as if to mark their goal.

As a younger child, Zenia enjoyed exploring what actions she could carry out with a marker or paintbrush, showed an emerging sense of composition by attending to the placement of her marks, and paused to examine the resulting marks as if thoughtfully reflecting on her work. From 24 to 28 months, Zenia is increasingly able to control the paint, paintbrush, or marker in order to create the marks she intends.

We catch Evelyn at 12 months, eager to know, exploring the hollow halves of plastic eggs, lifting and banging a large tin can. But more than pedestrian descriptions of one child’s play, this video bears witness to the way our species approaches objects with our own questions. Is this object a whole or does it have parts that separate? Can these separate objects be stuck together or do they fall apart? If I put them together can they be taken apart?