Children’s Voices as Knowledge That Matters

Reflections from our paper presentation at the Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association (PECERA) 2026 Conference

By Playeum

Kun Liang from the Playeum team presenting our ongoing research to an audience of local and international researchers, advocates, and practitioners in early childhood education at the PECERA 2026 Conference. (Photograph credit: Uno Lin)

In 2025, we published an insight report documenting the voices of 201 children in Singapore and the issues that matter to them. Their responses reflected an awareness of social and environmental issues, an understanding of social systems and rules, and a willingness to take individual and collective action as agents of change.

What began as an effort to make children’s perspectives more visible led to an unexpected opportunity. Dr. Sandhya Ravisankar from Symbiosis International University, Dubai, saw the potential in these insights to further examine, through a research study, how play based, participatory environments can help us understand children’s civic imagination. Civic imagination here refers to how children make sense of social and environmental concerns, imagine possibilities and express early forms of agency.

The research draws on data from our ‘What Matters to Our Children?’ initiative in 2024, which engaged 201 children aged 3 to 14 through 10 play-based workshops. Children were offered open-ended materials, including LEGO bricks, drawing tools and recycled materials, creating space for them to express themselves and make meaning in ways that felt authentic to them.

We recently presented this ongoing research at the Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association (PECERA) Conference 2026 on 11 July. What struck us most was the curiosity and questions that emerged after the presentation, particularly around how research methodology with children can be approached differently. The conversation was joined by 22 local and international researchers, advocates, and practitioners.

The discussions moved beyond theoretical frameworks and preliminary findings, and invited us to reflect more deeply on what it means to recognise children’s voices as knowledge that matters, and what becomes possible when we take seriously not only what children say, but what they create, imagine and express through play.

Some reflections that emerged from the conversations:

Imagination as a First Step towards Participation

We discussed how imagination can be an important first step towards civic participation. Before children can participate in shaping their communities, they need opportunities to imagine what is possible, consider different perspectives and envision how things can be different.

Imagination creates the space between what children experience now and what they believe could exist. With that space, participation is not just limited to responding to the world as it is, but also having the confidence to question, challenge, or reimagine it.

Play provides a natural space for this. As children imagine, negotiate, collaborate, make decisions and test different possibilities in play, they practise ways of thinking and acting that are central to participation. They learn that their ideas can shape what happens, that others may see things differently, and that together they can create something that did not exist before.

Connection before Contribution

A question about what happens during our workshops with children brought us back to something fundamental: meaningful participation begins with connection and trust.

This means building relationships not only between adults and children, but also among children who may be meeting for the first time. We create opportunities for this through co-created Playground Agreements, playful warm-ups and activities that invite children to move, express themselves and get to know one another.

It also means recognising that listening is not always about asking children questions or inviting them to contribute ideas. Sometimes, meaningful listening begins with being present, building trust and creating conditions where children feel safe and comfortable enough to express themselves in their own ways.

Participation does not always begin with a question. Oftentimes, it begins with a relationship.

Broadening What ‘Voice’ Means

Our workshops are intentionally designed with multiple modes of expression. Children may build with LEGO, work with loose parts, draw, create, talk, collaborate or choose not to participate in a particular activity.

Most children chose to build with LEGO bricks to express their ideas, while some preferred materials such as cardboard, bottle caps, paper or rubber bands. What matters is creating open-ended conditions where children have the autonomy to decide how they want to express what they think and know.

The sharing circle at the end of the workshop is voluntary. Children can choose whether they want to share their creations and the stories behind them. It is one possible avenue for expression, rather than a measure of whether a child has participated meaningfully. We look beyond the singular, articulate “voice” and recognise the many ways children communicate, create meaning and exercise agency.

Balancing Curiosity with Care

Finally, we reflected on the relationship between research and play. Research brings questions and perspectives, while play brings its own rhythm, relationships and possibilities. How do we remain curious about what children’s play can reveal without allowing the research process to take precedence over the child’s experience?

For us, this is an important tension to hold. The value of research should not be measured only by what it can extract from children’s experiences, but also by whether the process respects and preserves the meaningfulness of those experiences for children.

Ultimately, the conversations reminded us of the value of bringing practice and research together. Practice brings lived experience and questions grounded in work with children, while research creates opportunities to examine these experiences, contribute to knowledge and challenge existing assumptions.

When these come together, they can do more than generate findings. They can shift how we understand children, challenge our assumptions about what children are capable of, influence practice and shape the decisions we make with and for children.

The research is ongoing, with further analysis underway to better understand the patterns emerging from children’s expressions. We look forward to learning more about what these findings can reveal about the role of play in supporting children’s voices, civic imagination and agency.

Kun Liang with conference presenters from Monash University (Australia), Yew Chung College of Early Childhood Education (Hong Kong), University of the Philippines Diliman (Philippines), and presentation session host from the Singapore University of Social Sciences (left to right).

The Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association (PECERA) 2026 Conference was held at the Singapore University of Social Sciences from 10 to 12 July, under the theme, “Early Childhood Care and Education in a Complex World: Supporting Agency, Diversity and Inclusion.” The conference brought together more than 700 participants from 20 countries and economies across the Asia-Pacific and beyond.

We are grateful to PECERA and the Singapore University of Social Sciences for the opportunity to share our ongoing research and contribute to conversations on how we can better recognise and support children’s agency and voices. We value these spaces not only for sharing what we are learning through practice and research, but also for listening, questioning and learning alongside others who are working towards more inclusive approaches to early childhood education.