Through observations of the childrens play, I have made notes of all activities at the pre-school playground. The intention of the observations was to see if the playground environment invites and stimulate the childs motorie development. The study will be a part of a future planning work of the preschool environment.The results show that the pre-school playground environment invites to physical activities that stimulate the childs motory development. The variation of activities is dependent on the design of the landscapes. The pedagogues taking part of the childrens activities are one of the factors which contributed to the childs choice of activity.The preschool plays an important part in the childrens development so it is important that all personnel have basic knowledge on the importance of outdoor activities.Keywords: Fundamental movement, motorie development, preschool playground, outdoor enviroment.

The purpose of this study has been to describe and analyze how seven Swedish preschool teachers and two special education teachers think and work with children who show a lack of social skills. The study method has been semi-structured interviews with the educators which have been analyzed and sorted under different themes/categories. The theoretical framework used in this study is sociocultural, relational and categorical perspectives. These perspectives have been chosen in order to better understand how teachers see their role in supporting children in need of special support. The environment in the preschool is found to be of great help and the teachers? approach is of great importance.The research emphasizes the importance of integrating thinking, feeling and behavior.

The purpose of this study was to investigate what attracts children to activity and movement on the playground in a central and municipal preschool in a town located in middle of Sweden. The method was to use a qualitative group interview with five children, two girls and three boys, at the age of five. The interview consisted of a general question about what kids think is fun to do on the playground and was complemented with follow-up questions depending on what the children said. A qualitative interview with a preschool teacher and observations were carried out in the hope that they would confirm what children claimed about play and movement. This study showed a gender difference when girls like to swing together while the boys are making the swinging for a contest.

As Sweden has become a multicultural society the need for developing new educational approaches rises. The preschool is a crucial piece in this as it is the one of the first institutions where the children start to develop the language skills. The aim of this study is to investigate the language development approach as practiced by teachers, in their preschool programs, and determine if the teachers work methods can be considered intercultural. This is done to gain a deep understanding on several language development methods and analyze the teachers' approach within the framework of intercultural pedagogy perspective. The theoretical framework used in the study is the intercultural perspective.

The purpose of the study is to find out how teachers relate to music and rhythm in preschool and its importance for children's development and learning. We want to see how three pre-school teachers describe the importance of music in preschool in a group interview and individual interview. The teachers think that the most important thing with music and rhythmic is the joy that it provides, both for the children and for the adults. Music can be used both as a form of learning something else, or as a learning experience in itself..

AbstractGroup processes within the free play- in a socialpsychology perspective In our socialpsychology study we have demonstrated how children?s free play is by observing 2-5 years old children in preschool. We have also interviewed two preschool teachers. The major subject in this study is how children?s group processes expresses in their free play.

AbstractThe Swedish society has always been monolingual, but has for the past decades transformed into a multicultural and multilingual society. The aim of this study is to investigate if and in that case how preschool teachers work with language development in bilingual and multicultural preschools. The concept of linguistic and cultural diversity includes several different components, not least the social interactions that are of great importance to every individual's development, learning and participation in the world. By understanding the importance of language, language development and the role of mother tongue in second language acquisition, we look into various researches done concerning the effects of the preschool teachers? opinions, methods used to language developmental primarily for children who are multilingual and how the physical environment is shaped to promote language in multicultural and multilingual preschools.The method used in this study is semi-structured interviews with preschool teacher working in multicultural or bilingual preschool settings.

In today's preschool teachers should strive for us to have an inclusive preschool regardless of background, knowledge, culture. The conditions that everyone should have the right to education. Therefore the purpose of this study to enhance the understanding of the informants' views and thoughts regarding the inclusion of children with special needs. My study focused generally on children with special needs, but not against any particular diagnosis or a particular area related to children with special needs. To get answers to my questions I used qualitative interviews.

AbstractThis study investigates the impact of storytelling for children's language development in preschool from a sociocultural perspective. The purpose is to find what narrative methods teachers use to promote children's language development. I also want to examine whether the children are involved in the storytelling. To get answers to my questions which include what methods teachers use, narrative meaning and function, and their children's participation, I have used qualitative interviews with four preschool teachers at four different preschools.The results of my survey show that teachers use a variety of methods at storytelling. The most common methods were reading, rhymes and daily storytelling while eating.

The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge on how pedagogues use play as a way to expose children to the English language. I chose the qualitative method of interviews to conduct my study. The objects of study were four English speaking pedagogues at a preschool with English in their profile. This profile was a major factor when choosing where to carry out the study, as not every preschool in Sweden offers English.The interviews were conducted in English, as all four pedagogues were native English speakers and I did not want a possible language barrier to influence the results. The questions were composed with play as a focal point and a way to expose the children to English.My findings showed that play is an important tool for children to take part of and learn English.

The subject of this study is gender norms in the preschool and children who oppose those norms. The aim is to investigate how the discourses are linked with the way in which preschool teachers and teaching assistants talk about children?s gender identity. This study is founded in feminist post-structuralist discourse analysis, which was a basis for the interpretation of the results. My research questions are:? How do educators express themselves concerning gender norms?? What do educators need to work with a gender critical agenda?? How do the educators describe their work concerning gender, gender norms and children who oppose those norms?? For educators who have experience with children who do not identify with the gender they was given at birth, how do educators describe their own treatment of said children, and how would they describe the treatment from the other members of the teaching team?The study consists of qualitative interviews with five educators who were asked questions relevant to: norms, gender, gender criticism and how they work with those topics.I found both positive and negative aspects of gender work in preschool.

Through interviews with children of ages 4-5 years old and by observing children children at play at three preschools with different types of outdoor surroundings, I have investigated if the preschools outdoor surroundings have any influences on the children´ choice of play. The hypothesis was that natural surroundings can entice children´s interest in nature being in it and play. I have also investigated if the children know why it is important to be outdoors and if they know it has a positive influence on their health.The result of my investigation is that the children play about the same games at the three different preschool gardens, but at the preschool with more natural surroundings, the children have more contact with plants and animals, and could learn of the different phenomena of nature by the preschool teacher answering their questions. Most of the children in the interviews know it´s useful to be outdoors and be on the move and get fresh air, but many of them thought it was most important to play. By being outdoors the children get exercise, fresh air, play and at the same time they establish an understanding of the nature and a healthier life..

The aim of this paper is to find out to what extent outdoor mathematics is used in preschool and elementary school. I have chosen to use interviews to find it out. I made my interviews in five different schools in Karlskoga, with teachers in preschool and in first and second class. Focus has been on the positive effects in outdoor activities. The paper also deals with some of the prerequisites necessary to organize such activities.

This essay deals with the issue of children and stress, and the impact that stress can have on children. The purpose has been to explore how I, in my role as teacher, can prevent children from developing stress in preschool, and how I can prevent stress to develop inside of my own department. My essay is structured as follows: First, I describe my practical work with children. Then I analyze some research literature on stress, and finally I reflect over what I have described earlier and try to connect the practical with the theoretical.In the practical part of this essay I describe the various events that I have observed during my work in preschool, where I have seen how stress can affect both children and teachers. Then I describe how the increasing size of children?s groups can create stress because of the noisy environment of the department.

The aim of this thesis is to study preschool-teachers? experiences from using the computertablet as a tool for learning and teaching, in order to gain knowledge of how the integrationalprocess of information and communications technology (ICT) in preschool has progressedsince its instatement. The background that caused interest to make this study was the rapidprogression of the use of ICT-tools in childrens? everyday lives and the troubles that havesurrounded the process of integrating these tools into preschool-practices. The theoreticalbasis for the analysis of the research lies within the socio-cultural perspective.