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The infants in this clip create a musical duet by strumming and singing. A third child is interested but has not obvious way to enter the duet. Notice the ways in which they call each other back to the game. The girl is momentarily distracted by a ribbon (00:16), but hears a faith note from the boy in red. She smiles and starts to strum the noise maker on the wall (00:18). The boy on the platform holds out his hand, we know not why. The girl grabs his hand and pulls him closer (00:29). These are rather ambiguous actions to both children.

Russell and Taylor have a little squabble over who will carry the wooden sign that the class has made. Taylor gets slightly physical, but Russell declares, “I’m never letting go.” The teacher shifts into “we have a problem” mode, using phrases the children recognize from similar situations. “Both of you would want to carry the board, yes?” This identifies the problem without specifying the solution. The teacher wants the children to think this through and is willing to stop the walk through the woods to allow the necessary time.

You can study this video via several dimensions: the affordance of playground structures to support social play, the way the children adjust the rules of “Ring Around the Roses” to fit the environment, the way the children adjust their actions to avoid getting dizzy and their subsequent use dizziness as part of the “all fall down.” The fact that the poles are sufficiently separated allows children on adjacent poles to turn without colliding, yet the poles are not so far as to disallow the feeling of a group activity.

This is a video of a group of three young toddlers painting in the studio with a studio teacher. Throughout the video, we see the teacher assuming the role of a group member. She is not instructing the children on how to paint, but rather is introducing different techniques and brush strokes to the children in a natural way. The teacher paints alongside the children, initiating a “game” with the phrase, “Here I come,” as she moves her brush across the paper. Notice how the child not involved in the game mimics the teacher’s brush stroke before returning to his larger strokes.

We want to invite you to watch this clip from two perspectives, first from the perspective of the child in the red polka-dot shirt. She utilizes her hands and additional tools to produce sounds on the sound wall. She attempts different combinations of tools and materials, but seems to return to the wind chimes, as they produce the most consistent sound. Now, watch the clip from the perspective of the child in the background. How do their experiences differ? He attempts to shake his tool and looks up to notice the sound of the wind chimes.

This video clip follows a musical conversation between a young toddler and a teacher. They are experimenting with sound, using two drums and a stick. When the child first approaches the teacher, she assumes he is asking for her stick, when in fact he is asking her to stop playing (00:29). She understands his request and obliges. The child proceeds to explore different sounds on different parts of the drum. The teacher carefully imitates the child as way to encourage a dialogue (00:35). When the boy shifts to the drumhead from the rim, so does the teacher.

An infant uses a traffic cone like a megaphone to project his voice. He and the teacher play a call and answer game. The boy makes staccato sounds at the same pitch but in a steady rhythm. The teacher replies with slightly more complex sounds by varying her pitch. Did you hear the boy make any attempt to vary his pitch? What sounds would you make to draw the child into a sound making dialogue with a more definite call and answer? Around minute 1:00 he leaves his cone and approaches the cone the teacher is using.

This clip illustrates the ways in which children work in a group. Henry identifies the parts and functions of his structure – the roof and the place where people stand. Henry exits after Sawyer asks for a turn. Ben remains at the light table. Sawyer unintentionally knocks over Henry’s work. Perhaps assuming Ben made the structure, Sawyer consoles Ben, patting him with his hand, and saying, “Sorry, Ben.

This is a clip of two children co-constructing a dramatic play story. The children continually use the terms: “and then,” “how ‘bout,” and “OK?” as they negotiate the play. What does this strategy tell us about the children’s understanding of effective collaboration? The children offer each other space to lead the story at alternating times. The girl tells about a child who needs a blanket and the boy enacts fighting between his animal toys. To merge his play with the girl’s play, the boy pretends each of his animals gives the child a blanket (2:01).

This short clip focuses on a toddler, who is offered a variety of clay balls. It starts with the child attaching a small ball on top of a larger ball, in imitation of the creation the teacher has provided as a provocation. When he tries to add a second small ball, both balls fall off. He places the small ball on top of the large one, but he does not press to make them stick. What does this strategy say about his theory, his understanding of the physical nature of clay (see also “Poke, Scrape, Slap”)? He continues to experiment and finally achieves success.