The paper addresses gender issues in the practice of ECEC through research with children. The research examines children’s perspectives of kindergarten practice, acknowledging the importance of the child’s perspective in critical investigations of this nature. In total, fifty children from thirty kindergartens across Serbia participated in the research involving the Mosaic method. Qualitative analysis through three iterative phases helped identify emergent themes. The themes were not imposed by the researchers but emerged from the children’s narratives generated around photographs and drawings they had produced, map-making and kindergarten tours. One of the emergent themes captured in the children’s narratives related to gender issues and helped us map the three pathways of data synthesis: gender segregation and stereotyping, gender discrimination, and close friendships. The examples of children narratives indicate that no particular gender discourse informed the teachers’ practices nor did they critically re-examine gender issues. This consequently led to the perpetuation of gender segregation and stereotyping, as well as gender discrimination against boys and girls. Thus, we argue that ECEC practices should be further re-examined to with a view to improving gender equity.

Rad se bavi pitanjem zašto je zajednička igra dece i odraslih važna i za decu i za odrasle i kako oni mogu u igri da grade zajednička značenja i istražuju kulturne obrasce. Pitanje zajedničke igre se posmatra u odnosu na kapacitet fleksibilnosti koji odrasli i deca koriste u igri, a koji čini osnov njihovog stvaralačkog odnosa prema sebi i svetu. U radu se analizira način građenja i regulacije koautorskog prostora u zajedničkoj igri kao i njegove funkcije u rekombinovanju kulturnih obrazaca, transformaciji odnosa odraslih i dece i ko-konstrukciji kulture.

The paper presents how the play of preschool children and their families was supported in Serbia during the Covid-19 lockdown. Firstly, we outline the approach to play nurtured by the Department of Preschool Pedagogy in Serbia and how play, understood in this way, might be important for resilience on an individual and social level. Further, we will focus on the joint action of teachers from the Department of Preschool Pedagogy and students on the undergraduate course Children’s Play and Creativity in creating a resource, The Treasury for Common Play between Children and Adults, during the Covid-19 lockdown. The Treasury is an illustrated publication with suggestions for different playful situations and activities that children and parents can undertake at home while in isolation. It was promoted to the families in cooperation with policymakers and preschool teachers. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis on twenty-four written feedbacks of the families from the territory of Belgrade on using The Treasury, we tried to understand the nature and quality of the common play experiences of parents and children during home isolation. We interpreted the research findings focusing on openness towards the world, creative potential and relational nature. Based on the research findings, as well as our participation in working with students, educational policymakers and practitioners, we make two recommendations at the end of this paper for improving educational practice: cultivating play in a joint, systemic effort and establishing educational practice on creative potential.