When planning activities for children in ECEC, it is important to ensure that all children can participate and experience a sense of achievement. Through an inclusive approach, which considers the diversity of the group, all children can be actively engaged.
An inclusive approach to activities fosters a sense of belonging, regardless of the children's skill level. By facilitating activities so that all children can participate, their ability to collaborate and share ideas is strengthened. The children not only develop technical skills, but also important life skills such as empathy and respect for diversity. These are essential for building social competence and understanding of others, in addition to subject-specific skills.
This FILIORUM resource is based on findings from two studies: Supporting children's spatial understanding through technology: The importance of dialogical exchange analysed through inclusive research by Granone and Knudsen (2024), and Facilitating children’s communication in problem-solving activities with a coding toy: Teachers’ semiotic mediation in early childhood education and care by Granone and Pollarolo (2025).
In the video, Francesca Granone presents an example of playful mathematical activities with a robot where two children collaborate. One of the children uses sign-supported speech for communication. The content was developed in close collaboration between researchers and co-researchers, through the method of inclusive research (Granone et al., 2023; Granone & Knudsen, 2024).
This resource is one of several developed in the research project DiCoTe.
Aim: By using this resource, ECEC educators will gain knowledge of how to plan and carry out activities that engage all children, regardless of language, developmental level, or methods of expression. Useful for: ECEC educators, e.g., at a staff meeting. Recommended time use: 45 minutes, followed by trying the activities with children. Tips for using this resource: 1. Watch the video, individually or in groups. 2. Discuss the reflection questions in groups. 3. Try the activity together with the children. 4. Discuss and evaluate the activity with colleagues afterwards, e.g., at a staff meeting.
- Robot, coding toy and coding - "Playful mathematical activities" refers to planned mathematical activities approached in a playful manner - Bishop's mathematical activity Counting and Locating
Video
Thanks to Arnt Derik Eia from Austrått kindergarten and the two children who took part in the video.
Multimodal approach: Use of speech, visual support, body language, and other communication systems to ensure all children can participate. Establishing a shared knowledge base: Using familiar stories or common rules to establish a shared starting point for the activity. Small groups: Organising children into smaller groups to support communication and collaboration. Adapting the activity to the group: Giving each child time to participate, think, and respond at their own pace. Focusing on the goal of the activity: Defining a clear and concrete goal for the activity so all children can understand it. Humour: Using humour to reduce stress and create a relaxed, inclusive atmosphere. Repetition and practice: Repeating the activity to strengthen the children’s competence over time.
Questions for reflection
- What will you emphasise in a multimodal approach to involve all children in the activity? How can visual support, body language, sign-supported speech, or other communication systems be used to ensure participation on equal terms?
- What will you emphasise when organising children into small groups, and why? Discuss how small-group work can support communication, collaboration, and exploration.
- Reflect on how you can give the children time to participate, think, and respond, and what adjustments can be made to tailor the activity to the children's individual needs.
- How will you use humour in the activity? Discuss practice-based examples of how humour can create an inclusive and relaxing atmosphere.
- Reflect on how you can use repetition to strengthen the children’s understanding and mastery of the mathematical concepts involved.
Let the children use a robot, for example Kubo, to navigate through a path they design themselves.
To strengthen the children’s understanding of Bishop’s mathematical activity Locating, they can build a path with both turns and straight lines. Give them the freedom to explore how the robot can move and let them adjust the path along the way.
Support the children by guiding them with questions such as: “How can we make the robot turn here?” and “What happens if we try another path?” Allow them time to think and find solutions together.
How would you describe the mathematical knowledge the children acquire through the coding activity? How can this be documented?
How will you facilitate further coding activities with the children? What will you emphasise to engage all children in the activities?
Early childhood research from FILIORUM
This resource from FILIORUM - Centre for Research in Early Education and Care draws on the results from the following studies:
Granone, F., & Knudsen, G. (2024). Supporting children's spatial understanding through technology: The importance of dialogical exchange analysed through inclusive research. In J. P. Davis, S. Adams, C. Challen & T. Bourke (Eds.), Designing Inclusive Assessment in Schools (pp. 50-61). Routledge.
Granone, F. & Pollarolo, E. (2025). Facilitating children's communication in problem-solving activities with a coding toy: Teachers' semiotic mediation in early childhood education and care. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1-14.
Supporting children's spatial understanding
Aim: To examine how inclusive research can support children’s spatial understanding through play with coding toys, and how dialogue can influence observation and assessment in ECEC institutions.
Research question: How can inclusive research, with contributions from a co-researcher with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), contribute to developing activities and observation methods that capture both children’s spatial understanding and other mathematical skills, such as number sense?
Method: Qualitative case study with eight groups consisting of four children (ages 3–5) and an ECEC teacher. Together they programmed a Rugged Robot to reach a goal on a grid by rolling dices. Inclusive research was used, where a co-researcher with ASD contributed to the planning and implementation of the activities.
Data material: Field notes, photos, and transcripts from observations, both with and without dialogical exchange initiated by the co-researcher. Analysis was carried out with a multimodal approach, based on Bishop’s mathematical activities and a Norwegian observation tool: Mathematics – Individual – Environment (MIO).
Key findings:
- The children demonstrated spatial understanding and programming competence (computational thinking), for example by physically testing solutions before programming the robot.
- Dialogue among the participants showed that children’s uncertainty often were related to follow number sequences rather than a lack of spatial understanding.
- Observation tools should also include children’s number sense, not just spatial understanding.
- The co-researchers’ contributions led to new perspectives and highlighted the value of inclusive research in developing pedagogical activities and observation methods.
- The study emphasises the need for competence in observation combined with dialogue, questioning, and various communication techniques to support reflection and ensure knowledge transfer to everyday life.
Facilitating children's communication
Aim: To examine which mediation elements ECEC teachers can identify as relevant to support children’s communication (verbal and non-verbal) during problem-solving play activities with the Kubo robot.
Research question: How can teachers use multimodal communication and other mediation elements to promote children’s participation and communication during problem-solving activities with coding toys in ECEC?
Method: Qualitative study with two rounds of observation involving nine ECEC teachers and 36 children (ages 4–5). The first round consisted of improvised activities with Kubo. Between the two rounds, a workshop was held where the teachers reflected on experiences and identified mediation elements. The second round consisted of planned activities where the teachers applied these elements.
Data material: Video recordings, workshop notes, and the teachers' logs.
Key findings:
- In the first observation round, the teachers mostly used verbal guidance and often overlooked children’s non-verbal signals, which reduced the children's engagement.
- In the second observation round (after the workshop), the teachers integrated multimodal mediation, including gestures such as pointing and showing paths with a finger, reflective questions, humour, and giving children time to respond. This increased the children's engagement, made them more active in problem-solving, and strengthened their ability to express ideas verbally and non-verbally.
- Good planning is essential to be able to capture and support children's communication, while also providing flexibility to follow up on children's initiatives.
- By compining verbal and non-verbal strategies, the teachers can bridge the gap between concrete actions and abstract mathematical concepts.
Bishop, A. J. (1988). Mathematics education in its cultural context. Educational studies in mathematics, 19(2), 179-191.
Granone, F., Johansen, M., Reikerås, E. K. L. & Kvalø, T. M. (2023). “Nothing about us without us”: The first example of inclusive research in Early Childhood Education in Norway. Consultori Familiari Oggi.
Solem, I. & Reikerås, E. K. L. (2017). Det matematiske barnet [The mathematical child] (3rd Ed.). Caspar forlag.
Corresponding author
Department of Early Childhood Education
