Past and present PEDAL colleagues Janina Eberhart, Carolyn Mazzei, Dina Fajardo Tovar, Zhen Rao and Sara Baker together with Allison Haack have published a paper in the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

How do children’s personality traits - especially callous-unemotional (CU) traits like seeming less sensitive to others’ feelings - affect how teachers see their behaviour, and how do these traits change how much children enjoy school?

"It is our collective responsibility to understand how toys powered by artificial intelligence impact young children." @drjennyg.bsky.social and @ejgoodacre.bsky.social in The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

More about @drjennyg.bsky.social and @ejgoodacre.bsky.social's research on AI toys and children's development here: content.educ.cam.ac.uk/content/new-...

Today in our Guardian letter, @drjennyg.bsky.social and I call for a greater public discourse on how AI toys are interacting with young children and the impacts on their development. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

PEDAL's @ejgoodacre.bsky.social & @drjennyg.bsky.social have had a letter published in The @theguardian.com which responds to Arwa Mahdawi's article about her family's experience with an AI toy: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

The long-term follow up findings of our Healthy Start, Happy Start study have been published in the @acamh.bsky.social Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry this week. Read a quick-read summary by @camedfac.bsky.social: content.educ.cam.ac.uk/content/heal...

This animation provides an update on the long term findings of the Healthy Start, Happy Start study testing a relationship-based parenting programme. @nihr.bsky.social @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk @ihealthvisiting.bsky.social @acamh.bsky.social @camedfac.bsky.social

New research from @pedalcam.bsky.social shows that a short, relationship-based programme for families can protect against children developing behaviour problems years later. Quick-read summary here: content.educ.cam.ac.uk/content/heal... ...or take a look at the full paper in the attached post!

This is one of very few long term studies of a brief early intervention to improve mental health in young children. The news is positive - we can make sustained improvements for children early in their lives. Something that early years practitioners know - now there is more research to back it up.

The long-term follow up findings of our Healthy Start, Happy Start study have been published in the Journal Of Child Psychology And Psychiatry: doi.org/10.1111/jcpp... @camedfac.bsky.social @nihr.bsky.social @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk

Learn more about how PEDAL research can improve maths outcomes and think more creatively about how to achieve this goal: www.pedalhub.net/resource-lib...

🌍 From Cambridge, UK! Our Digital Child team had the pleasure of meeting with Professor Paul Ramchandani, Director of the PEDAL Research Centre and with Emily Goodacre, RA at PEDAL. PEDAL’s mission: discovering how play can spark change in families, schools, and communities.

Starting a new school or a new school year can produce feelings of anxiety in children of all ages. Play and movement can help our bodies to recognise that we are safe and reduce our anxiety level. www.pedalhub.net/resource-lib...

Have you watched the #PEDALConference2025 recordings yet? Ellen Beate Hansen Sandseter presented “Children’s risky play: Thrilling experiences and developmental benefits": www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTdh...

Most of us can remember our first day of school or have an embarrassing photo to remind us! 🏫 Uniform too big, an onrush of emotions, nerves, and excitement. It’s not surprising that starting school is so memorable; it is one of the biggest changes a young child will experience.

Have you watched the #PEDALConference2025 recordings yet? Dr Catherine Draper, Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa presented “Early childhood development and the ‘next 1000 days’: youtube.com/watch?v=vm41...

How can Disney movies like Encanto be used by therapists to help children experiencing intergenerational trauma? Former PEDAL PhD student @drsydneyconroy.bsky.social explores this in an open access research paper published by Child & Adolescent Mental Health in 2022:

Have you watched the #PEDALConference2025 recordings yet? Bo Stjerne Thomsen, Head of Educational Impact at @legoeducation.bsky.social presented Play: The future of learning and thriving: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j5L...

We need your help! Please click the link below for more info and share with your networks - thank you!

In this piece from the #PEDALResourceLibrary archives, former PEDAL Research Associate, @sophmphillips.bsky.social looks at how active play can help improve children's access to physical activity and their physical health 🛝 www.pedalhub.net/resource-lib...

Minister of Early Education at the Department of Education @stephenmorganmp.bsky.social attended the #PEDALConference2025 to speak about the Plan for Change and giving every child the best start in life 🪁 Watch the full recording here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul_R...

Congratulations to PEDAL PhD student, Dr Sabilah Eboo Alwani who graduated on 26 July! Sabilah’s research investigated early childhood development in Britain during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the implications of Parental Time Investment.

Early years practitioners: We want to hear your views on new toys that use artificial intelligence! We're researching how new toys that use AI might impact young children, and we want to learn about your concerns, as well as your views on any benefits. cambridge.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Congratulations to PEDAL PhD student, Dr Dina Fajardo Tovar who graduated on 26 July! Dina explored teachers' perspectives and practices of learning through play in urban and rural Mexican preschools.

Congratulations to PEDAL PhD student, Dr Stephanie Nowack who graduated on 26 July! Stephanie explored a South African Pedagogy for Play for autistic learners, focusing on exploration, enjoyment and empowerment.

In anticipation of the publication of our findings from the second phase of the Healthy Start, Happy Start study (coming soon!), here’s a reminder of what we did and what we learned from phase one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy_5...

Check out the recordings from #PEDALConference2025, including me presenting preliminary results from our scoping review on generative AI toys 📖👇

The recordings of the #PEDALConference2025 are available to watch now on our YouTube channel:

Congratulations to our former PEDAL colleague Sabilah Eboo Alwani who led and authored this fantastic report for @unicef.org: www.unicef.org/reports/seed...

This is happening today at 12:00!

Join @nestauk.bsky.social on Wed 9 July from 12:00-13:00 to explore how online parenting interventions can help close the early years disadvantage gap: www.nesta.org.uk/event/what-d...

We are delighted to announce that phase two of the development of our Playtime with Books programme is now complete, and we have published a report summarising our learnings in collaboration with @nestauk.bsky.social, the UK’s innovation agency for social good: www.pedalhub.net/wp-content/u...

📚 Not all families can access in-person support to build early book-sharing skills. We worked with @pedalcam.bsky.social‬ to test Playtime with Books — a digital programme helping caregivers support their child’s early development at home. 🔗 Read our latest report for key insights:

PEDAL and @starlightuk.bsky.social's 2025 report and lit review 'Playing with children's health?' was quoted in the Raising the Nation Play Commission final report ‘Everything to Play For: A Plan to Ensure Every Child in England Can Play’.

Now that the final Play Commission report has been published (see link in our bio and our previous post), we wanted to re-share the submission that PEDAL's Dr Soizic Le Courtois and Manogya Sahay worked on with PhD student Qiming Liu:

The Raising the Nation Play Commission and @cfyounglives.bsky.social‬ published their final report ‘Everything to Play For: A Plan to Ensure Every Child in England Can Play’ on the #InternationalDayofPlay. www.centreforyounglives.org.uk/news-centre/... #EverythingToPlayFor

Huge congratulations and felicidades to PEDAL PhD student, Paulina Pérez-Duarte Mendiola for passing her viva! 🥂 Paulina's research focussed on capturing children’s perspectives regarding their interactions with health play professionals.

...and the #PEDALConference2025 draws to a close! Thank you so much to our wonderful keynote and workshop speakers, the PEDAL and Faculty of Education team and of course to all of our wonderful attendees who've travelled from near and far! Cheers! 🥂

Huge thanks to Professor Rosie Flewitt, Professor Hatice Gunes and PEDAL’s Dr @ejgoodacre.bsky.social for their presentations on AI, Toys and the Future at the #PEDALConference2025 - plenty of food for thought!

“Let's not forget the enormous joy of playing with children... Children give a lot to us when we play with them!" Loved this from @juliangrenier.bsky.social’s keynote presentation at the #PEDALConference2025

It was wonderful to have @salhogg.bsky.social - PEDAL’s former Senior Policy Fellow - back for the #PEDALConference2025! Sally spoke about the Royal Foundation’s Shaping Us Framework and about lessons from her work in PEDAL about working collaboratively with policy makers.

#PEDALConference2025 Dr Nikhit D’Sa reminded us today that in contexts of adversity there are always sources of resilience to be harnessed within systems.

#PEDALConference2025 @emmapritchard95.bsky.social spoke on the perspectives of autistic adults about play. From a neurodiversity-affirming approach some takeaways emerged:

#PEDALConference2025 @safriedman.bsky.social spoke on the importance of using nature to support neurodivergent people and play. Key takeaways are:

#PEDALConference2025 Dr Sinéad McNally talked about the importance of consulting and asking neurodivergent children's perspectives on play. From her research on asking children aged 5-12, some takeaways emerged:

Loved hearing Amy McNaughton talk about how Public Health Wales are developing a framework for action to help improve outcomes for the early years. #PEDALConference2025

Thank you to @eleanorire.bsky.social for sharing more about @nuffieldfoundation.org’s mission to fund impactful research projects using evidence-based research to determine learning gaps. #PEDALConference2025

What if play was on prescription? Bo Stjerne Thomsen argues the idea has hope! Play can help children keep attention, relate to others, and build confidence. Hospitals can be a place for children to play, grow and learn! #PEDALConference2025

Happy World Day of Play! We're excited to join international researchers, policy makers and practitioners at a @pedalcam.bsky.social confererence all about play. We'll be talking about what we've learned over the last decade, what we still need to learn, and how we can put this into practice.