Albin-Clark, J., & Archer, N. (2023). PRISM Journal PRISM Early View. Playing social justice: How do early childhood teachers enact the right to play through resistance and subversion? [England]

Bäckman, K. (2014). Children's play as a starting point for teaching mathematics in preschool. In A Mathematics Education Perspective on early Mathematics Learning between the Poles of Instruction and Construction (POEM, Research symposium, 16-17 June 2014, [Sweden]

Bäckman, K. (2016). Children’s Play as a Starting Point for Teaching Shapes and Patterns in the Preschool. In: Meaney, T., Helenius, O., Johansson, M., Lange, T., Wernberg, A. (eds.) Mathematics Education in the Early Years. Springer.  [Sweden]

Bradbury, A. (2024) The early years and play: The last bastion for democracy. Democracy & education.  BERA Research Intelligence. Issue 160. Autumn 2024.  [England]

Camas Garrido, L. (2018). Children’s play and democratic culture. International Journal of Play, 7(3), 308–321. [Spain]

Carruthers, E. & Worthington, M. (2022). Playful, play and children’s mathematics? Education Journal 486, 14. May 2022. [England]

Carruthers, E. (2020). Mathematical teaching  in nursery schools in England: A way forward for mathematical pretend play and democratic pedagogies. Review of Science, Mathematics and ICT Education, 14(2) 25-41. [England]

Carruthers, E.  Open mathematics: Open minds: Children’s thinking and mathematics. Community Playthings. [England]

Carruthers, E. & Worthington, M. (2006). Children's mathematics: Making marks, making meaning, (2nd ed.). Sage. [England]

Chen, H., Disney, L., & Li, l. (2024). Studying children's motives in mathematical problem-solving during transition from kindergarten to school: A Conceptual Play World approach. Learning, Culture and social interaction 48. [Australia]

Cook, D. (2001). ‘You can't have a cake unless it's written down’: Semiotic activity and authentic learning in play as a potential tool for analysis. Early Child Development and Care, 168(1), 49-62. [England]

Cook, D. (2006). Mathematical sense making and role play in the nursery. Early Childhood Development and Care, 121(1), 55-66. [England]

Culverhouse, H. (2017). An investigation into indoor and outdoor mathematical play. Association of Teachers of mathematics (ATM). May, 2017. [England]

DCSF (2009). Children Thinking Mathematically: PSRN essential knowledge for Early Years practitioners.[Carruthers & Worthington were commissioned by the government to write this booklet]. [England]

Edo, M., Planas, N., & Badillo, E. (2009). Mathematical learning in a context of play. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 1(3): 1350-29. [Spain]

Evans, M. (2021). Play-based learning in the early childhood mathematics classroom: Culturally

sustaining play. Innovations and Critical Issues in Teaching and Learning 2(1), 31-53. [USA]

(22/04/21). Editorial: The Guardian view on child’s play: help kids be themselves..  [England]

Gaskins, S. (2013). Pretend play as culturally constructed activity. In M. Taylor (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of the imagination (pp. 224–247). Oxford University. [England]

Gleave, J., & Cole-Hamilton, I. (2012). A world without play - A literature review. Play England.

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Helenius, O., Johansson, M. L., Lange, T., Meaney, T., Riesbeck, E., & Wernberg, A. (2016). When is young children’s play mathematical? In Mathematics Education in the Early Years, 139-156. Springer. [England]

Johnsen Høines, M. (2004). Do we welcome children’s mathematics? Who are we? Proceedings of the 28th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education I, pp 81–86. [England]

Kirkham, J., Stewart, A., & Kidd, E. (2013). Concurrent and longitudinal relationships between development in graphic, language and symbolic play domains from the fourth to the fifth year. Infant and Child Development, 22: 297–319.

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qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-141. 

Nolan, A., Paatsch, L., & Kinnear, V. (2024): Enriching the professional capital of primary school teachers to assess play and learning through play, Professional Development in Education, DOI: 10.1080/19415257.2024.2407405

Souto-Manning, M. (2017). Is play a privilege or a right? And what’s our responsibility? On the role of play for equity in early childhood education, Early Child Development and Care, 187(5-6), 785-787. 

Stokes, H. A. (2023). The barriers utilising play-based learning in England's primary school classrooms. The British Psychological Society.

van Oers, B,  (2013). Is it play? Towards a reconceptualisation of role play from an activity theory perspective, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 21(2), 185-198.

van Oers, B. (2023). The development of mathematical thinking in young children’s play: The role of communicative tools. In: Palmér, H., Björklund, C., Reikerås, E., Elofsson, J. (eds) Teaching Mathematics as to be Meaningful – Foregrounding Play and Children’s Perspectives. Springer, Cham.

Voutsina, C., Stott, D. (2023). Preschool children’s conceptions of the meanings and use of written numerals in everyday life: a phenomenographic study of the nature and structure of qualitative variation. Educational Studies in Mathematics. 114, 274-275.

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Wood, E. (2022). Play and learning in early childhood education: Tensions and challenges. Child Studies 1, 15-26.

Wood, E. & Hedges, H. (2016). Curriculum in early childhood: Critical questions about content, coherence and control. The Curriculum Journal, 27(3), 387-405.

Wood, E, A. (2014). Free choice and free play in early childhood education: troubling the discourse. International Journal of Early Years Education, 22(1), 4-18.

Worthington, M. (2018).  Funds of knowledge: Children's cultural ways of knowing mathematics. In V. Kinnear, M-Y Lai & T.Muir (Eds.), Forging connections in early mathematics teaching and learning (pp. 239-258).   

Worthington, M., & van Oers, B. (2016). Pretend play and the cultural foundations of mathematics. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal 24(1), 51-66. 

Worthington, M. For more articles on play, please see: Our publications