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Play as the Main Road

inChildrens Transition
to School

Introduction

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Stig Brostrm
Aarhus University, Denmark

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This chapter deals with childrens transition to school and play. The first
part focuses on transition and shows a number of problems deriving from
lack of continuity between preschool and school. One solution to these
problems is to create transition strategies and activities. Besides a number
of transition activities, the author argues for play as a pivot for successful
transition, with close attention to specific dialogical reading that precedes
play. Thus play is not seen as childrens own free-flow play, but as an educational activity in which the preschool teacher has an active role.
Transition Concepts and Strategies

Childrens transition to school is a major political and educational topic.

For some children, transition from one educational setting to another

Varied Perspectives on Play and Learning, pages 3753

Copyright 2013 by Information Age Publishing
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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presents problems, and for that reason practitioners, researchers, and policymakers focus on this issue. The reason to support childrens transition
has at least two coherent dimensions: (1) to support each childs best interests and (2) to make the best conditions for all childrens school success
and lifelong learning.
The word transition is rather open. It deals with border crossing, a physical movement from one physical context to another. Dunlop and Fabian
(2002) define transition as being the passage from one place, stage, state,
style or subject to another over time (p.148). Related specifically to early
childhood, educational transition can be defined as the time between the
first visit in the new educational context and the final settling in (Fabian,
2004; Kagan & Neuman, 1998).
During childrens first six years they engage in many transition experiences, and most children will be involved in a number of vertical forms of
transitions: (1) From being safe and secure in their family, with well-known
rhythm and routines, and with a secure attachment to their close adults,
infants may enter their first educational setting, the crche or preschool
(Clark, 2007; Dalli, 2002; Griebel & Niesel, 2002; Kienig, 2002). (2) During
the next five years, many preschool children transit from one age group
to another. (3) At the age of five or six, children experience the most extensive educational transition, namely the transition to school (Brostrm,
2002a, 2003, 2007; Dockett & Perry, 2007; Dunlop, 2002; Margetts, 2002).
(4) In combination with the transition to school, almost at the same time
children enter into leisure-time center or after-school program.
Besides these vertical transitions, two forms of horizontal transition must
be added: first, the daily transition where children twice a day move from
their home to crche or preschool and back again. Via this transition children experience quite different routines, values and patterns of interactions. Second is the daily transition from home to leisure-time center and
to school and, later on, the same travel back (Johansson, 2007).

Problems in Childrens Transition to School

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Because children have experiences with transition from their early years,
one might suggest that they have accumulated transition competencies,
making them transition experts. However, international research on starting school suggests that moving from preschool to school can be challengingand for some children traumatic. This may be the case especially for
children with less-than-optimal circumstances, such as children with special education needs and children from dysfunctional families (Brostrm,
2002a; Napier, 2002; Shore, 1998).

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Children experience many changes and differences as they start school.

First of all, they change identity from being a child in preschool to being a
student in school, which means they are expected to behave in a certain way,
to learn and understand the rules and language of the classroom, and to
read the teacher (Fabian, 2007; Merry, 2007). Moreover, Fabian (2002) and
Pianta (2004) mention a number of challenges children meet when they
enter school, including a larger physical environment in which it can be difficult to orientate themselves. In preschool, the child belongs to the eldest
group of children and, at school, this suddenly changes as school starters
become the youngest and are required to relate to older children. In school,
the social environment is much more complex, with greater numbers of
children and much more competition. In school, there are fewer adults,
which means less individual attention and interaction with adults than previously. Compared with preschool, children in school have less autonomy but
are expected to be more independent and capable of self-regulation. There
is a shift in the academic demands of children as they meet new unfamiliar
challenges. In sum, using Piantas (2004) words, transition to school is a time
when the demands go up and the support goes down.
Many, but not all, children find the abovementioned changes very challenging, resulting in feelings of insecurity and nervousness. While individual and isolated change may be manageable, the child can be overpowered
by the amount of simultaneous change. When this happens, the child is
assailed by too many changes and is not able to experience the transition
journey as a natural and smooth movement from one context to another.
International transition literature describes this problem as lack of continuity
between preschool and school (Brostrm, 2003; Dunlop & Fabian, 2002).
Fabian (2002) describes three categories of differences and discontinuities between preschool and school. These, and two more I have added, are:
Physical discontinuity is seen where the physical surroundings are very
different in size, location, and the number of people.
Children experience social discontinuities when their identity changes,
as do their social network and the adults with whom they interact.
Philosophical discontinuity is expressed when children experience
quite a new approach to teaching and learning. Research from different countries illustrates major educational differences between
preschool and school, sometimes leading to educational contradictions. In general, preschool stresses play, and deemphasizes an
active teacher role in supporting childrens learning. The opposite
is so in school, as children are expected to participate in teacher-initiated activities that hold school-orientated content, such as reading,
writing, and math (Brostrm, 2002a). Such a contradiction forces
children to make enormous changes.

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Communication discontinuity refers to the lack of communication

between parents, preschool teachers, leisure-time pedagogues, and
school teachers. A Danish evaluation report shows that preschool
teachers have limited knowledge of what happens in school, and in
general they think school has not changed since their own school
time. Preschool teachers believe that, in school, children are seated
the whole day. They suggest that learning in school is labor-oriented, while learning in preschool is free and playful. Correspondingly,
other teachers understanding of life in preschool is vague. They
see preschool as a place where children are mostly cared for in a
traditional sense, but usually do not conceptualize the educational
culture of preschool.
As a fifth and final category, discontinuity in childrens views of preschool
and school appears. In general, children have a rather balanced view
of school. However, some Nordic studies show that many preschool
children have an image of school as a place where children are sitting quietly at their desk learning how to read, write, and do mathematics (Einarsdttir, 2003; Lillemyr, 2001). Moreover, a number of
children reported being worried about not being able to meet the
schools expectations. In the Norwegian study of Lillemyr (2001),
a third of the interviewed children expressed nervousness and
also fear related to starting school. In addition, two Danish studies
interviewing more than 700 six-year-old children showed that 12%
seemed to be insecure and nervous, and 24% expressed an expectation characterized by a scolding teacher who commanded children
to sit still and be quiet. Five percent of these children expected to
meet an authoritarian school (Brostrm, 2002a).

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Children with such views are at high risk for school-related anxiety and
nervousness. This can drain childrens energy to such an extent that they
cannot mobilize their existing skills and talents when they enter school. Research has shown that problems at the start of school can pursue children
over many years of school life (Ladd & Price, 1987). For that reason, in the
next section, some possible transitions activities are described.
Transition Activities

Because childrens transition to school can be overloaded with changes, professionals have important roles in supporting children to make a
smooth transition to schoolto feel suitable in school. This is to feel secure,
relaxed, and comfortable in the new environment; to have a feeling of wellbeing and belonging.

1.
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The extent of the childs school readiness

Support from parents, family, and community
A system of high-quality preschools
A teacher who is able to take the childs perspectives, interests, and
needs into account
5. Continuity in curricula
6. Communication between home and school
7. A welcoming environment for families and children.

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Research on school start shows that children who feel relaxed and welladjusted in school are much more likely than children who do not feel
well adjusted to experience school success beyond preschool. Conversely,
academic, social, and emotional difficulties in the first year in school persist
into later life (Ladd & Price, 1987).
A smooth and successful transition requires attention to several related
elements (Brostrm, 2002a):

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These related elements combine the most important areas in the childs
life before and after starting school and support the transition. They also
prompt a number of transition strategies (Dunlop & Fabian, 2002; Neumann, 2002):
An important strategy to ease childrens transition is to build pedagogical
and program continuity between preschool and school. Most European countries have decided national curricula or frameworks for early childhood
education and care, outlining general aims and objectives, which are in
accordance with aims, goals, and objectives described in school curricula.
However, though there is expressed a continuity at the rhetorical level, often this continuity is not expressed in everyday life in preschool and school.
A second strategy is the existence of a superior leading forum that expresses leadership and the will to organize from an administration level. This
includes both strategies and initiatives undertaken by the municipality administration and the head of the school, together with the leadership of
the connected preschools and leisure-time centers in order to construct
the means for cooperation, to provide shared meetings, and to give equal
working conditions and joint education. Following on from this, there is a
need for structural continuity. This is difficult when policy and provision for
children in the preschool years and children attending school fall under
different administrative auspices (Neumann, 2002). However, some countries, including Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, have managed to combine responsibility for early childhood education and care and compulsory
schooling, in order to combine care and learning, and to realize the idea
of lifelong learning.

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School groups in preschool

The school inviting the parents for meetings and visits
School and preschool having lots of mutual visits during the year
Production of a joint document defining school readiness
Meetings with parents about school readiness
Conferences on childrens readiness
Children and preschool teachers being involved in lessons in school
During spring, shared projects between neighborhood preschools
A teacher from preschool following the group of children in school
Formation of classes with regard to childrens friendship
Teaching in school on the basis of childrens portfolios

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The third strategy is at the personal level to establish interaction between

all involved persons to secure professional continuity (Neumann, 2002). In
many countries, policies and practice require preschool, leisure-time centers, and schools to collaborate. For example, in 2006 the Danish School
Start Commission recommended the following transition activities:

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Finally, Neumann (2002) adds a fourth form of continuity, namely the

fact that the parents are a central part of a proper transition, and thus there
is a need for continuity with families and homes (Johansson, 2002; Perry, Dockett, & Howard, 2000).

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Building Bridges

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The transition activities and strategies listed above make up an outline of a

transition model where all involved professionals and parents play an important role in supporting childrens transition to school. However, from
a critical point of view, one might argue that too much support can lead
to helplessness. For that reason, one should trust in the childrens agency
(James, Jenks, & Prout, 1998), which means to understand the child as
a goal-seeking person who is able to set her own purpose, to deliberate,
to reflect, to judge and to involve herself in action in different contexts.
Understanding childrens agency assumes that children are resilient and
competent and able to make use of their transition experiences. However,
to make use of their own competencies, children must achieve a certain level of language development, self-awareness, and conscious reflection. The
child needs to have knowledge about why, how, and what he has learned in
preschool in order to act independently and consciously in the new environment. In other words, there is the need for a development of childrens
meta-cognition or, according to Leontev (1978; 1981), the scope of their
motivation to learn, or the development of a learning motive.

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Research based in a cultural-historical approach (Baumer, Ferholt &

Lecusay, 2005; Bodrova & Leong, 2007; Elkonin, 1980; Leontev, 1978; Vygotsky, 1978) has shown that play and a play-oriented curriculum involving dialogical reading, followed by play, contribute to the abovementioned
competencies. This opens the way to make use of play in goal-oriented educational transition practices.
As already described, a successful transition to school consists of two interrelated dimensions. On the one hand, practical transition activities and,
on the other hand, the development of a new psychological structure in the
childs mind: a learning motive.
In next section I will define the concept of play and, following this, present the method of dialogical reading, before combining dialogical reading and play in order to expand childrens language and the establishment
of a learning motivation at the time of transition to school.

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Theory of Play

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From a cultural-historical understanding of play, it is assumed that important changes take place in the preschool childs psyche through play,
which paves the way for the childs transition to a new level of development
(Leontev, 1981). Play activity has a number of benefits. Through interaction with peers and adults, the child deals with signs and symbols in order
to represent the culture. Signs and symbols also influence the development
of higher mental functions (Leontev, 1978; Vygotsky, 1978).
When children enter role-play (symbol-play, pretend play, make-believe
play, sociodramatic-play), they make use of symbols. They replace persons
and objects from reality with a symbolic representation. A stick symbolizes a
gun or a sword, and they themselves pretend to be a policeman, a mother, or
a superhero from the outer space.
Vygotsky states that play is characterized by the fact that in play a child
creates an imaginary situation (1978, p.93). The child is able to symbolize
the reality. According to Vygotsky, the reason for this is motivation. The child
strives to do what the adults are doing. The child wants to drive Mums car or
fly to the moon in a spacecraft. This is not possible, but the child can fulfill
this desire through play. [T]he preschool child enters in an imaginary, illusory world in which the unrealizable desires can be realized, and this world is
what we call play (Vygotsky, 1978, p.93).
In play, children are able to master ideas and to take more advanced actions than is possible for them in non-play situations. The child raises the
demand on himself and brings himself into the zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978), which starts new processes of development. According to Vygotsky, not only will the independent actions in the zone of proximal

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development support new developments, but also the childs imitations have
a similar effect. The child is able to imitate actions that go beyond his or her
possibilities, but not without limits.
However, the optimistic idea that play has a leading and developmental
function (Leontev, 1978) has been over-interpreted, and the (often misunderstood) phrases: in play a child always behaves beyond its average age
and play always leads to a more advanced level of development have been
discussed and criticized. For example, van der Veer and Valsiner (1991) argue
that play does not in itself contribute to the childs development. From their
point of view, play has a development potential only when the play environment has the potential to challenge children to cross their zone of proximal
development. This calls for social interaction where the preschool teacher
or other adult plays an active role, challenges the child, and provokes him or
her to create new meanings and understandings. Such a form of play goes
beyond the traditional role-play and is called border play (Leontev, 1981).
Based on the above understanding of play I will present some research
on dialogical reading and childrens language acquisition and development. The idea is to connect play and dialogical reading in order to construct a play method which crosses the zone of proximal development and
can serve as a tool for all childrens successful transition for school.
Play as Pivot for Successful Transition

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In transition practice, preschool teachers often read high-quality picture

books in order to support childrens language acquisition. This is based in
research showing coherence between adults reading aloud and the development of childrens language and also later reading skills (Robbins & Ehri,
1994; Snchal & LeFevre, 2002; Silvn, Ahtola, & Niemi, 2003; Wells, 1986).
However, new research shows a stronger effect when reading is followed
by conversations about the story, followed by aesthetic activities like play
and drawing. Whitehurst and colleagues have shown that dialogical reading
not only has an effect on childrens vocabulary, but also on their narrative
competencies (Lever & Snchal, 2010; Whitehurst, Arnold, Epstein, Angell, Smith, & Fischel, 1994).
Dialogical Reading
In dialogical reading, children are challenged to listen to the story and
are invited to speak about the story, which provides an opportunity to make
use of words and sentences from the book. They not only imitate sentences
from the book, but also engage in selective imitation (Whitehurst & Vasta,

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1975). For example, if children are asked to repeat a sentence that is more
difficult than they are able to manage, in order to make sense, they will
integrate what they have heard and adjust the sentence at their own level.
Based on this knowledge, Whitehurst and colleagues set up the CIP hypothesis, Comprehension, Imitation and Production, to express the idea: First
the child is able to understand the word without being able to produce the
word or sentence; at the next step, the child is able to imitate the word or
sentence via a selective imitation (that is not an exact reproduction); and
finally the child independently manages the word or sentence, and she is
able to play with the word or sentence in new contexts.
Dialogical reading is based on the assumption that childrens language
acquisition is affected by three techniquesnamely, practice, feed-back,
and scaffoldingin order to construct a zone of proximal development
(Vygotsky, 1978). This is in accordance with the work of Tomasello (1999)
who shows that childrens communicative competencies are embedded in
cultural learning. Via general sociocultural skills like imitation, shared attention, categorization, symbolic thinking, and understanding of other people
as intentional persons, the child becomes able to appropriate cultural tools
and symbols that are used in the childs specific world (Vygotsky, 1978).

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Dialogical Reading and Play

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Dialogical reading has an effect on childrens language development in

general. Changes are noted in increased vocabulary, language comprehension plus communicative competence, and also in relation to their narrative competences (Lever & Snchal, 2010; Whitehurst et al., 1994). The
effect seems to be increased when the reading of the story is followed by
different forms of verbal dialogue and by role playing and drawing (Andresen, 2005; Anning, 2003; Baumer et al., 2005; Pellegrini & Galda, 1998;
Silvn et al. 2003).
Inspired by Gunilla Lindqvist (1995) and Vygotsky (1978), an American
study (Baumer et al., 2005) made up a play world based on a story, which the
preschool teachers and children captured once a week and played together
in this fantasy world. Children were prompted to reflect on the relation between the play world, fantasy world, their pretend world and the real world.
Compared with a control group, the experimental group achieved a higher
level of narrative competencies.
Based on a Vygotskian approach, Bodrova and Leong (2007) have generated a range of adult guided play activitiessuch as sociodramatic playin
order to promote childrens literacy. In the program Tools of Mind, Bodrova
and Leong (2007) describe 40 Vygosky-inspired activities which have been
shown to have a positive effect on childrens development. Also a numbers

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Play Embedded in Dialogical Reading

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of studies (such as Neeley, Neeley, Justen, & Tipton-Summer, 2001) have

used scripted play, where children carry through dialogues on visits to restaurants, hospitals, and the like to demonstrate effects on childrens language development. Another study (Klein, Moses, & Jean-Baptiste, 2010)
investigated childrens involvement in scripted play, free play, and the retelling of a story, concluding that these experiences contribute to childrens
ability to use complex sentences, supporting Leungs (2008) conclusions.
To sum up, there might be a basis to create a play-based curriculum with
a combination of reading, dialogue, and play. In the following section this
idea will be elaborated.

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In my understanding, play connected to dialogical reading can be seen

as a form of border play. In dialogical reading, the children influence both
the content of the dialogues and the drawing and play. However, the preschool teacher or other adult also has an active role. She leads the conservation about the book, puts forward questions, and organizes both the drawing and play sessions. In some play sessions, the children themselves set up
play episodes related to the reading; in others, the preschool teacher organizes the frame and the children fill out the frame. Sometimes the teacher
acts as play leader/supporter and organizes play in advanced defined play
scenes. Other times, she may be a player.
However, regardless of forms of play organization, the preschool teacher
has to be very attentive and sensitive to both children and the play process. She has to be aware of the characterization of play, while at the same
time not neglecting the soul of play. Four dimensions (Bateson, 1972; Levy,
1978; Lillemyr, 2009) seem to characterize (role) play:

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Play is intrinsically motivated, involving feelings of enjoyment, motivations is a strong dimension.

Play puts reality aside, suspension of realityfreedom to imagine,
use of creative abilities. The child knows it is make-believe play. The
child cannot fail.
The child himself has control of what happens. He can take initiatives, chose roles; the child can decide.
Play is characterized by interactions and communication. The child
understands the signal that this is play (Bateson, 1972).

Many play researchers and preschool teachers have interpreted these dimensions to mean that play must be a matter for children without adult influence. Thus, free-flow play has been a hallmark of play in early childhood

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(Lillemyr, 2009) accompanied by warnings against extended play-directed

pedagogy (Heinsohn & Knieper 1975). However, during the last decade, researchers and practitioners have argued for greater adult involvement in play
in recognition of the role of play to promote educational goals (Brostrm,
1999; Dockett & Fleer, 1999; Lillemyr, 2003; Lindqvist, 1995; Singer, Golinkof,
& Hirsh-Pasek, 2006; Smilansky & Shefatya, 1990; Vedeler, 1997).
In this instance, the role of the adult is to play with children not as a
teacher but as a play partner. Although adults never can play as a child,
they can act playfully, based on knowledge both of childrens development
and the essence of play. According to Leontev (1981), the preschool teacher
has to understand and respect the dynamic and legality of the play, reflecting
a proper respect for both children and play (Lillemyr, 2009, p.152).
Based on reading sessions and dialogues about a story, it is possible to
create play sessions that on the one hand relate to the story and, on the
other hand, go beyond this. This is seen in play where the child imitates
a role or sequence from the story and transforms and expands this in new
ways. This is not merely reproduction of roles and actions; this is creation of
quite new dimensions and, with that, new moments of learning can appear.
According to Engestrm (1987), new knowledge, skills, and actions often
emerge through such activities. Engestrm names this kind of learning
activity learning by expanding. However, to achieve such learning, children
need to be provided with the raw materialsfor example, participating in
field trips, reading quality literature, and engaging in interesting dialogues
with adults. This is exactly what dialogical reading provides.
Using different kinds of play, border play or expansive play (Brostrm,
1999) like frame-play, aesthetic theme play, and drama-play, the boundaries
of traditional role-play will be crossed. Such kinds of play can be seen as an
activity situated between Leontevs (1981) concepts of play and learning.
Thus it can be described as a transitory activity that may have the potential
to enrich the individual child to support the development towards a learning
motive (Leontev, 1981).
Such a transitory activity system contains different elements, and I propose different kinds of border play. Driven by the use of childrens storytelling (Brostrm, 2002b), the concepts of frame-play (Brostrm, 1999),
play-drama, and play-world (Baumer et al., 2005) plus aesthetic theme play
(Lindqvist, 1995), form the basis for the development of a new play concept
that combines reading, literature dialogues, drawing, and play.

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Play as the Main Road inChildrens Transition to School 47

Dialogical Reading and Play

When frame-play, aesthetic theme play, and drama-play are connected to dialogical reading, children and the preschool teacher plan and play together,

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and the preschool teacher takes an active and challenging role called teacher in role (Lindqvist, 1995). On the basis of common experiences from
the story, they decide a general theme (for example, What happens in the
witchs forest?), or they invite loved characters from childrens literature
into their playfor example, Pippi Longstocking (Lindqvist, 1995).
The concept frame is used with reference to the importance of the
imaginary play situation (Elkonin, 1980). In role-play, the imaginary play
situation often refers to a situation with only narrow limits. But creating a
frame-play with older preschool children makes it possible to generate an
extended and common imaginary play situation, a shared frame the children can use for a long time.
When the children make plans for the play, and also during the play,
the content, or in Batesons (1972) words, the text, is expressed. Simultaneously, the children give signals about how to interpret the message, or
the context. These signals help the play participants to understand each
other. According to Bateson (1972), the establishment of the context is a
psychological frame. In play with older preschool children, the psychological frame is usually clear. Its function is to include certain messages and actions and to exclude others. A psychological frame has the same function as
a picture frame: It tells the viewer what he or she should notice. The frame
defines the context.
In this new form of play, the childrens consciousness of the psychological frame is strengthened through the establishment of a real frame. For example, they have read a book about a child going to school, and then they
construct the frame together: They turn the classroom into a school. Supported by this physical frame, children and adults imagine themes, roles,
and actions. In other words, they share a fantasy, which they collectively
construct and modify (Fine, 1983, p.12). The frame-play contains several
elements decided in advance by the children and the adults. Because of the
time interval between reading the book, formulation of the plan, and realization of the play, the roles, rules, and actions are prepared thoroughly. In
this way, the frame-play is more organized and more purposeful than roleplay. As well, the motives of the two kinds of play are different.
In a form similar to frame-play, Lindqvist has created aesthetic theme
play. With reference to Vygotskys (1971) book The Psychology of Art,
Lindqvist (1995) argues for an open and dynamic approach to play, where
childrens imagination and creativity are stressed. Lindqvist states that drama is linked to play more directly than is any other form of art: Children
can compose the text, improvise the roles and prepare the scenic accessories: scenery and costumes, which they can paint, stick on, cut out and joint
together (1995, p.53).
Together with a group of children, Lindqvist creates a play world. She
introduces children to specific child literature and sets up a themefor

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example, Alone in the big, wide world. Loneliness is one of the most important existential questions, especially for small children who have to leave
their parents to go to preschool every day (Lindqvist, 1995, p.73).
From this starting point, children and the teachers create a play-world
that can last for weeks or months. The idea is to move between reality and
imagination and to establish a creative and playful atmosphere and at the
same time become familiar with the chosen theme.
Very close to Lindqvists aesthetic theme play, Baumer et al. (2005) describe a form of play named drama-play. Here three elements are integrated:
Explorative play experimenting with roles, actions, and dressing-up
Dramatization involving the preschool teachers and focused on
creating a product, a story
Reflection via dialogue, a kind of philosophical conversation with
children

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An example of how these elements of drama-play can be integrated is when

the Russian folktale Baba Yaga was read aloud by the teacher and children
were shown scenes of the film based upon the tale. Inspired by class discussion of the story, the children recreated the witchs house and are visited by
the character of Baba Yaga, who shows them how to perform a conjuring trick.

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Conclusion

When children are involved in the above forms of play, they not only have
fun, but they are also challenged to reflect on their play and to discuss what
and how they play. Thus, one might argue that such play activities pave the
way for the development of childrens learning motives. Achieving a learning motive enables the child to go beyond passive learning and to become
an active learner. In addition, and as earlier mentioned, data relating to
childrens language acquisition and reading skills in grade one show that
children involved in play sessions acquire higher scores compared with the
control group (Baumer et al., 2005). A play-based approach seems to hold
potential as a possible transition strategy as regard to creating a so-called
transitory activity system, which is a new psychological structure. In other
ways, the use of dialogical reading and play both in preschool and in the
first year(s) in school might contribute to the construction of an advanced
form of school readiness: the establishment of learning motive.
Besides the development of a transitory activity system, that is, a sense
of transition in childrens mind, the dialogical reading and play approach
might be a tool for realizing the recommended transitions activities. Physical discontinuity can be reduced when children realize that the school

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classroom is similar to the preschool classroom. For example, it may have

play corners, which contain both toys and play material. This can also
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discontinuity plus the pedagogical and philosophical discontinuity are lowered when preschool teachers and school teachers together discuss educational principles and create curricula where play has a central place. No
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some teachers from school overcome the barriers, it paves the way for other
preschools and schools.

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Author Queries:
On manuscript p.2, you cite Kienig, 2002, but in your references the authors name
is spelled Kiening. Also in that same paragraph, you cite Margetts, 2002, but
in your references you have it spelled Margretts. Please check both spellings
and make the citations and references match.
On ms p.6 and the following pages, you cite Neumann, 2002, but in your references
the authors name is spelled Neuman. Please check the spelling.
In your references, please double check the issue number for Napier, J. (2002).
That seems like a very high number for an issue number.
Please list all editors, not et al. for Vygotsky, L. S. (1978).