Background Children begin foundational learning in early childhood that sets the stage for later learning and academic success. Research regarding engineering in early childhood is limited yet growing.Purpose Because interest in engineering in early childhood is growing, this article reviews research regarding interactions, materials, and activities that promote prekindergarten children's engineering thinking, and in turn how this engineering thinking is related to developmental outcomes. Scope/MethodThe initial search for papers with relevant keywords returned over 2,000 papers. Upon review, 27 papers pertained to children age five or under and to engineering. The following research questions were addressed: What (a) interactions and (b) materials and activities promote prekindergarten children's engineering thinking? What developmental outcomes are related to children's engineering thinking?Conclusions The small body of research regarding engineering thinking in prekindergarten children only allows for a few limited conclusions. Specifically, results indicate that children display engineering thinking when actively engaged with materials, adults are better able to facilitate engineering thinking if they have received some guidance on both engineering principles and asking children questions, and children's engineering thinking can promote early math skills and possibly social and emotional development. However, a consistent limitation in the literature is that measures are underdeveloped and their psychometric properties are often unestablished.

This study investigated using the Parenting Interactions with Children: Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes (PICCOLO; Roggman, Cook, Innocenti, Norman, & Christiansen, 2013a) measure to assess teacher-child interactions experienced by individual toddlers within their childcare classrooms. Forty toddlers were observed, each during three 10-min cycles, and all their interactions with adults in the classroom were coded using the PICCOLO. Results, in terms of psychometric properties, indicate promise for using this measure to observe toddlers' individual experiences of teacher-child interactions in group settings. Furthermore, certain individual teacher-toddler interactions were associated with toddlers' problem behavior. Implications for use of the PICCOLO in early childhood classroom research and particular findings related to toddlers' behavior are discussed.

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