Category: Communication & Language Development
Playful Books with Babies and Young Children
6 July 2026
Playtime with Books: Scaling an Evidence-Based Book Sharing Intervention Presented by PEDAL researchers Dr Tom King and Dr Eloise Stevens at the PEDAL Conference 2026, as part of the workshop session titled: ‘Playful books with babies and young children’. This session explored how everyday book sharing moments can support babies and young children’s development. Parent […]
A Playful Start to School
30 June 2026
The Importance of Play and Peer Relationships at the Transition to Reception Presented by Dr Elian Fink at the PEDAL Conference 2026 as part of the workshop session titled: ‘A Playful Start to School’. This session explored how children’s play and friendships evolve as they move through the different stages of early years provision into […]
Project Report: AI in the Early Years
25 March 2026
The rapid rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) means we are now seeing GenAI designed and marketed for direct use by young children through toys. This report details research findings from our AI in the Early Years project, which aimed to provide a scientific basis for identifying the impacts, risks, and opportunities of GenAI toys […]
Explorando el bienestar de los niños y las niñas autistas en Medellín
25 March 2026
Si tienes diagnóstico de autismo o eres familiar de alguien con este diagnóstico en Medellín, ¡esta invitación es para ti! En Colombia, aún sabemos poco sobre cómo se vive el autismo en el día a día. Muchas de las investigaciones provienen de otros países y no reflejan la realidad colombiana. Por eso, hoy queremos escuchar […]
Communication with friends and non-friend peers: an examination of dyadic connectedness across two play contexts
26 February 2026
This study examines the extent to which children’s connectedness is influenced by interaction context and friendship status. Research findings show that although friends engaged in similar rates of connected talk across two contexts, non-friends engaged in more connected talk during goal-directed drawing when compared to free-play. It is therefore important to focus on both context […]
AI, toys and the future
17 July 2025
These recordings formed the “AI, toys and the future” session, presented by Prof Rosie Flewitt and PEDAL’s Dr Emily Goodacre.
Play: The future of learning and thriving
17 July 2025
Bo Stjerne Thomsen, Head of Educational Impact at LEGO Education, attended the PEDAL Conference 2025 to discuss how play can be more deeply integrated into education, work, and society.
Trusting play to be meaningful data: using sand tray as a play-based research method with an adapted interpretative phenomenological analysis
27 March 2025
PEDAL PhD student Sydney Conroy explores using play itself as data for the purpose of research.
Supporting Learning Through Play
11 December 2024
A Play Commission Submission by Dr Soizic Le Courtois, Manogya Sahay and Qiming Liu
Common elements approaches to support early childhood development
3 December 2024
In this PEDAL Conference 2024 recording, Prof Sara Baker, CEI's Dr Stephanie Smith and Emma Cook from Department of Health and Social Care present: Common elements approaches to support early childhood development.