Virtual worlds for children are becoming increasingly popular, and yet there are few accounts of children’s use of these worlds. Young children are spending increasing amounts of time online as technology continues to create significant changes in social and cultural practices in the 21st century. Some of children's online interactions can be categorized as playful in nature; however, play and technology are frequently positioned as oppositional. In this article, I explore the tensions surrounding the relationship between play and technology and relate it to similar discourses concerning the concepts of ‘real’ and ‘virtual’. I then move on to consider the growing popularity of virtual worlds with young children and examine the way in which the worlds have been marketed to children and parents/carers on the basis of their propensity to offer online play in a safe environment. The article provides an overview of two virtual worlds currently targeted at young children and draws on a survey of primary children’s use of virtual worlds in order to identify the nature of play in these environments. One hundred and seventy-five children aged 5—11 completed an online survey and 15 took part in group interviews in which their use of virtual worlds was explored. This article focuses on the data relating to 17 children aged from five to seven years who used virtual worlds. Findings indicate that virtual worlds offered these young children a wide range of opportunities for play and that the types of play in which they engaged relate closely to ‘offline’ play. The implications for early years educators are considered.

In many analyses of children’s ‘emergent literacy’ (Clay, 1966) practices, there is little acknowledgement of children’s engagement in techno-literacy practices. This article discusses findings from a survey undertaken in a working-class community in the north of England which aimed to identify the ‘emergent techno-literacy’ practices of a group of 44 children aged between two and a half and four years of age. It is argued that the multimodal textual competencies and semiotic choices of these ‘toddler netizens’ (Luke, 1999) should be more widely acknowledged within current curriculum frameworks for the early years.

This article reports a study that explored young children's digital literacy in the home. The aim of the study was to identify the range of digital literacy practices in which children are engaged in the home and to explore how these are embedded into family life and involve family members. Four children, two girls and two boys aged between 2 and 4 years, were the focus for study. Parents were co-researchers in the study in that they made written observations on children's activities and captured practices using a digital camera and a digital camcorder over the period of 1 month. They took part in a series of interviews during the study in which they reflected on this data and were asked about related practices. Findings suggest that children were immersed in a range of multimedia, multimodal practices which involved extensive engagement with other family members who scaffolded their learning and delighted in the children's technological capabilities. The article suggests that, in the light of socio-cultural developments in the new media age, a change in focus from 'family literacy' to 'family digital literacy' is required.

This study is the first to systematically investigate the extent to which apps for children aged 0–5 foster play and creativity. There is growing evidence of children's use of tablets, but limited knowledge of the use of apps by children of children of this age. This ESRC‐funded study undertook research that identified how UK children aged from 0 to 5 use apps, and how far the use of apps promotes play and creativity, given the importance of these for learning and development. A survey was conducted with 2000 parents of under 5s in the UK, using a random, stratified sample, and ethnographic case studies of children in six families were undertaken. Over 17 hours of video films of children using apps were analysed. Findings indicate that children of this age are using a variety of apps, some of which are not aimed at their age range. The design features of such apps can lead to the support or inhibition of play and creativity. The study makes an original contribution to the field in that it offers an account of how apps contribute to the play and creativity of children aged five and under.

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This study examined the literacy practices of children ages 5–11 as they engaged in out‐of‐school use of virtual worlds. The purpose of the study was to explore the nature, purpose, and role of literacy in children's use of a virtual world. In this article, I reflect on how children's use of literacy practices in the virtual world constructed and maintained an online social order. One hundred seventy‐five children in an English primary school completed an online survey from which their use of virtual worlds was examined. Individual and group interviews were then conducted with 26 children across the year. The interviews established that children used the virtual worlds to extend contact with peers they had regular interaction with in the offline world. Further, three 11‐year‐old children were filmed at home as they used the virtual world Club Penguin. Additional interviews were conducted with the three children and their parents. Data analysis focused on the ways in which children drew on specific literacy practices to construct and maintain an interaction order. A key finding is that literacy operates as a means of developing online social cohesion, but the literacy practices that serve this function are located within the social, material, and cultural structures in which the children operate in the offline world and thus cannot be viewed in isolation from these wider discourses. تناولت هذه الدراسة تطبيقات القراءة و الكتابة لدى الأطفال الذين تتراوح أعمارهم بين 5 و 11 سنة، عندما شاركوا خارج المدرسة في كيفية استخدام العالم الافتراضي. وقد كان الغرض من هذه الدراسة توليد بنيات نظرية ذات أسس قوية عن كيفية استخدام الأطفال لممارسة القراءة والكتابة في بنيات العالم الافتراضي والإبقاء على نظام اجتماعي عبر الإنترنيت. قام 175 طفلا من إحدى المدارس الابتدائية الإنجليزية بالإجابة على أسئلة دراسة عبر الإنترنيت حيث تم بحث استخدامهم للعالم الافتراضي. وأجريت كذلك مقابلات انفرادية وجماعية على ستة وعشرين طفلا طوال السنة. أثبتت المقابلات أن الأطفال قد استخدموا العالم الافتراضي من أجل توسيع الاتصال مع أقرانهم الذين يتفاعلون معهم بصورة منتظمة في العالم الحالي. وعلاوة على ذلك، فقد تم تصوير ثلاثة أطفال في سن الحادية عشرة وهم في بيوتهم عندما استخدموا نادي العالم الافتراضي Penguin™. أجريت مقابلات إضافية مع الأطفال الثلاثة وآباءهم. وركزت التحليلات البيانية على السبل التي اعتُمد عليها أثناء ممارسة قراءات وكتابات محددة من أجل بناء و المحافظة على "نظام تفاعلي" (غوفمان، 1983). النتيجة الرئيسية التي تم التوصل إليها هي أن القراءة والكتابة يعملان كوسيلة لتطوير التماسك الاجتماعي عبر الإنترنيت، بيد أن ممارسات القراءة والكتابة التي تقوم بهذه الوظيفة توجد داخل البنيات الاجتماعية والمادية والثقافية التي يعمل فيها الأطفال خلال العالم الحالي، ولذلك لا يمكن النظر إليها بمعزل عن هذه الخطابات الواسعة النطاق. 本研究考查5至11岁儿童在校外使用虚拟世界时所投入的读写文化实践。本研究旨在创建扎根理论建构来解释在虚拟世界中，儿童的读写文化实践使用，如何构建及维持线上的社交秩序。就读于一所英文小学的175名儿童，完成一项考查儿童如何使用虚拟世界的线上调查。在该学年中，26名儿童接受进一步的个别及小组访谈调查。结果证实，儿童利用虚拟世界来扩展他们朋辈间在离线世界中经常交往之联系。此外，三名11岁儿童在家里使用虚拟世界《企鹅俱乐部》的情形均被摄录下来，而该三名儿童及其父母随后也接受进一步的访谈调查。研究资料分析主要集中在儿童如何凭藉着特有的读写文化实践来构建及维持一种「互动秩序」（Goffman, 1983）。一个关键的研究结果就是，读写文化实践的运作，是作为发展线上社会凝聚力的一种手段，但产生这种...

This paper reports on a small-scale project which aimed to build upon the existing home literacy practices of a group of three-and four-year-old children living in the UK. The purpose of the project was to develop literacy materials and resources which could be borrowed from nursery and used within the home to promote children's literacy development. Children's informal literacy practices at home were identified using literacy diaries, which 18 families completed over a four-week period. These documented children's reading of both printed and televisual texts. In addition, interviews were conducted with 15 parents and carers. The paper reports on the findings from this stage of the project, which indicate that much of children's reading was focused on popular cultural and media texts. Media boxes were developed as a literacy resource for use by parents and children in the home. The use of these media boxes by three families was documented and the initial findings, which suggest that the use of such resources draws on families' cultural capital, discussed.This paper reports on a project which aimed to build upon the existing home literacy practices of a group of three-and four-year-old children living in the UK. The purpose of the project was to develop literacy materials and resources which could be borrowed from nursery and used within the home to promote children's literacy development. The importance of involving parents and carers in their children's learning has been a well-established principle in the UK since the Plowden Report (CACE, 1967). However, many parental involvement programmes have been predicated on schooled notions of literacy