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Purpose This study aims to examine the interplay between culturally relevant materials, child racial ethnic classroom composition and positive emotional climate in regard to high levels of peer play in low-income, urban preschools located in African-American and Mexican immigrant/Mexican-American communities in the USA. Design/methodology/approach The sample includes state or city subsidized child care programs in the USA which were traditionally African-American programs that experienced an influx of Latino immigrant enrollment. Instruments included structured observations of classroom peer play and cultural artifacts. Hierarchical multiple regression was run to determine whether cultural artifacts and child ethnic composition within classrooms contributed to the prediction of high-peer play over positive emotional climate alone. Findings The final model indicates that cultural artifacts reflective of African-American culture positively predict high levels of peer play, while Mexican-American cultural items are negatively predictive. In classrooms with a majority African-American population, predicted high-peer play is 7.994 greater than that predicted for majority of Latino classrooms. Research limitations/implications Positive emotional climate in these programs was not very high, and it is not clear whether the findings discussed in this report would hold in contexts that exhibit much higher levels of positive emotional climate. It is also not clear that the inclusion of cultural artifacts in contexts in which African-American children are the minority or in racial-ethnically heterogeneous classrooms would lead to the same findings. Practical implications ECE classroom should make specific choices as to what culturally relevant materials to include in early childhood classrooms. Teachers of young children of color must facilitate children’s engagement with these materials by ensuring that they are representative of the children’s cultural experiences and by supporting children’s engagement with peers through the formation of emotionally positive classroom climates. Social implications This study points to interesting relationships between what teachers have in classrooms and children’s engagement with each other within those contexts. The findings from this study also exemplify that a one-size-fits-all approach toward childhood development may be counterproductive. Children bring with them ethnic and cultural heritages, which when combined with the preschool culture, create unique experiences for them that should not be ignored or controlled for analysis, but rather, understood. Originality/value This study provides a unique analysis of seldom considered contexts by examining the use of culturally relevant materials in urban, early childhood contexts. Teachers of young children have been found to consider a focus on race and ethnicity as unnecessary or to engage in a colorblind approach with young children. This study demonstrates how paying careful consideration to the cultural environment in classrooms also supports children’s exploration and play quality.

To understand how parents adapted to virtual learning expectations during the initial COVID-19 school closures in spring 2020, this study investigated families’ daily activities, including parents’ emotions and their appraisals of the value of daily activities across two timepoints. Thirty-two parent–child dyads (Mean child age = 78 months, 50% male; 47% Latinx/Hispanic; 28% Spanish speaking) from a Southern California school district serving a diverse population completed a daily diary texting protocol (experience sampling method; ESM) five times per day over five days. Families spent most of their time together engaging in mealtime activities (preparing meals and eating). Families from low socioeconomic backgrounds reported appraising academic activities, social skills, and life skills more highly than families from high socioeconomic backgrounds. Parents reported more positive emotions than negative emotions. Findings provide opportunities for educators to mitigate learning loss by building on children’s learning experiences and family adaptations to daily routines during COVID-19.

The home is an important setting for young children’s learning and development. We examined home literacy practices and technology usage among families with children ages 5–6 years old ( N = 47) before as compared to during COVID-19 with bivariate analyses. Variations by household income were also investigated. Parents completed surveys on home literacy and technological practices and demographic information in the spring of transitional kindergarten and the following kindergarten year. Results demonstrated an increase in child technology usage for school related educational programs, from pre-COVID-19 to COVID-19 and a decrease in home book reading, storytelling, writing, and playing games during COVID-19 home learning. Transitional kindergarten parents from the upper-income bracket reported significantly lower technology use of educational games compared to those in the lower-income group pre-COVID-19. Kindergarten parents from the upper-income bracket reported significantly higher technology use of educational games and lower technology use in watching TV to fall asleep, compared to those in the lower-income group during COVID-19. Findings suggest that there are few differences in home learning environments across family income groups. By characterizing how parents utilize technology and literacy practices with their children, we can better understand how to support families through COVID-19 and beyond.

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