Reading on Race, Play and Early Childhood
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This is a small, growing collection of articles, features and research that we return to at Storytime Scarves. Some are aimed at practitioners, some at parents, some at anyone who cares about what early childhood looks like when we take identity seriously. We haven't written any of it. We're sharing it because the people who have are worth listening to, and because the conversation around race, belonging and play in early childhood deserves more than a display board and a diversity policy. We'll add to this as we find things that belong here.
Articles and Features
Standing Firm in Power and Pride: Celebrating Black History Month
Racism Is Happening Among Nursery Age Kids. We Cannot Ignore It (HuffPost UK)
Inclusion: "Wakanda Forever!" (Nursery World)
Why We Need an Anti-Racist Approach in Early Years Education (Nesta)
The Tiney Guide to Becoming an Inclusive, Anti-Racist Early Educator
Anti-Racism in the Early Years (Rachna Joshi, Early Education)
Websites
The Black Nursery Manager | theblacknurserymanager.com Liz Pemberton's platform for anti-racist training and consultancy in early years. The most practical, grounded resource we know of for settings serious about embedding this work.
The Black Curriculum | theblackcurriculum.com A social enterprise founded by young people to address the absence of Black British history in the UK curriculum. Essential context for anyone thinking about what children are and are not being given access to.
Letterbox Library | letterboxlibrary.com The UK's leading specialist in inclusive and diverse children's books. An invaluable resource for building a book corner that genuinely reflects the children in your setting.
Diverse Educators | diverseeducators.co.uk A broad directory of organisations, consultants and practitioners working on race equality in education. A useful signpost when you're looking for specific support or training.
Inclusive Books for Children | inclusivebooksforchildren.org A charity working to ensure children's publishing reflects the full diversity of childhood. Worth knowing about for anyone curating a reading environment with care.
Critical Early Years | criticalearlyyears.org Dr Shaddai Tembo's platform for research, writing and thinking on race, identity and social justice in early childhood. Short, rigorous and worth bookmarking.
Books
For practitioners and educators
Let's Talk About Race in the Early Years – Dr Stella Louis and Hannah Betteridge The book we recommend first. It argues that practitioners should take the development of racial and cultural identity as seriously as they do literacy and numeracy, and backs that argument with case studies, reflective prompts and practical guidance. Both editors appear in our Voices Worth Following section below.
Anti-Racism in Early Childhood Education: Theory and Practice – Victoria Bamsey, Lynn J. McNair and Nakissa Campbell Brings Froebelian principles into conversation with anti-racist practice in ways that will resonate with anyone who has ever wondered how play philosophy and social justice belong together. Rigorous and genuinely useful for settings wanting a theoretical foundation for their approach.
Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves – Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards A foundational text in anti-racist early childhood education, widely cited across the research and considered essential reading for practitioners wanting a grounded starting point. First published decades ago and still entirely relevant.
Building Positive Relationships in the Early Years – Jamel Carly-Campbell and Sonia Mainstone-Cotton A practice-led exploration of the adult-child relationship, written by a practitioner who understands that how we show up for children, and who shows up, is itself a form of representation.
Can I Go and Play Now? – Greg Bottrill Not specifically about race, but essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why open-ended play matters and what we lose when we erode it. Bottrill makes the case that childhood is the chrysalis of identity that shapes children's sense of self, and that the conditions we create for play are the conditions we create for children to know who they are.
For broader reading
My Skin, Your Skin – Laura Henry-Allain MBE A picture book that gives children and the adults around them a language for conversations about race and identity. Written by one of the voices in our section below and used in early years settings across the UK.
Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race – Reni Eddo-Lodge Not early years specific, but the essential starting point for understanding how race and racism operate in Britain. Read this before or alongside anything else on this list.
Voices Worth Following
These are the practitioners, thinkers and educators whose work we return to at Storytime Scarves. Some are early years specialists, some work across education more broadly. All of them are doing the kind of thinking that we believe the sector needs more of.
Several of the voices here are co-founders of the Early Years Black List, a platform created to ensure Black educators are heard across the full breadth of early childhood practice, not only on questions of race.
Liz Pemberton Director of The Black Nursery Manager and one of the leading voices in anti-racist early years practice in the UK. Liz works directly with nurseries, schools and local authorities to embed anti-racist practice in ways that go beyond displays and policy documents. Her work is practical, honest and grounded in the realities of early childhood settings. If you work in early years and haven't encountered her thinking yet, start here. theblacknurserymanager.com / Instagram: @theblacknurserymanager
Dr Stella Louis Early years consultant, author and the facilitator behind the eighteen-month reflective journey at Poppies Nursery that we wrote about in our Substack. Co-editor of Let's Talk About Race in the Early Years alongside Hannah Betteridge. Her question, whether every child and family in your community has a genuine sense of belonging, is one we think every practitioner should sit with.
Laura Henry-Allain MBE Educator, author, producer and creator of JoJo and Gran Gran, the first Black British CBeebies animation, which she built from her own relationship with her grandmother. Her bestselling books My Skin, Your Skin and My Family, Your Family give children and the adults around them a language for conversations about race, identity and belonging that so many find difficult to begin. She is also a co-founder of the Early Years Black List alongside Liz Pemberton, a platform that ensures Black educators are heard across the full breadth of early childhood practice, not only on questions of race. Her work sits at the intersection of storytelling, education and identity in exactly the way we believe early childhood should. laurahenryallain.com
Greg Bottrill Early years practitioner, consultant and author whose work is built around a single conviction: that play is not a break from learning, it is where learning lives. His book Can I Go and Play Now? makes the case that childhood itself is the chrysalis of identity, and that when we erode children's space for play in favour of tracking and measurement, we erode the child. He is a passionate advocate for open-ended continuous provision, giving children the autonomy and freedom to explore rather than setting up environments that tell them what to do. That distinction sits at the heart of what Storytime Scarves believes a play scarf should be. gregbottrill.com
Dr Nathan Archer Researcher, Montessori-trained teacher and associate editor of the Journal of Early Childhood Research, whose work sits at the intersection of play, policy and the early childhood workforce. He has spent twenty-five years working across practice, policy and research in early childhood education, and his thinking consistently challenges the accountability culture that has quietly eroded children's right to play in favour of measurement and tracking. He calls for richer, more diverse perspectives in early childhood research, and his work on the resistance and activism of early years educators is some of the most quietly urgent writing in the sector. Worth following for anyone who wants to understand not just what good early childhood practice looks like, but why the conditions for it are so hard to protect. LinkedIn: Dr Nathan Archer
Dr Shaddai Tembo Senior lecturer in Early Childhood Studies at Bath Spa University, independent speaker, trainer and consultant through his platform Critical Early Years, and one of the more rigorous academic voices thinking about race and identity in early childhood. He is currently leading a Froebel Trust funded research project developing an anti-racist framework within Froebelian pedagogy, which sits at an intersection that will matter to anyone who has ever wondered how play philosophy and anti-racist practice belong in the same conversation. He is also part of the Early Years Black List, connecting him to Laura Henry-Allain and Liz Pemberton as part of a broader community of Black educators shaping the sector's direction. His writing at Critical Early Years is worth bookmarking. criticalearlyyears.org / LinkedIn: Dr Shaddai Tembo
Joss Cambridge-Simmons Founder of Jossy Care and widely known as the UK's leading 'super manny', Joss Cambridge-Simmons has spent nearly two decades working in childcare and challenging the assumptions that come with being a Black man in a sector that rarely looks like him. He is on a mission to raise awareness of sexism, discrimination and male representation within early years, and his work sits at the intersection of race, gender and what it means for children to see themselves reflected in the adults who care for them. He is a co-founder of the Early Years Black List alongside Laura Henry-Allain, Liz Pemberton and Jamel Carly-Campbell, a platform that continues to amplify Black voices across the sector. Follow him for warmth, honesty and a perspective on childcare that the mainstream conversation still too rarely makes room for. Instagram: @jossycare
Jamel Carly-Campbell Early years educator, consultant, trainer and author with over twenty years of experience, whose work actively promotes careers in early years education to men and people of Afro-Caribbean heritage, two groups still significantly underrepresented in the sector. His bestselling children's book Olu's Teacher and his co-authored title Building Positive Relationships in the Early Years reflect a practitioner who understands that representation in the books children read and in the adults who care for them are two sides of the same question. He has worked with CBeebies, BBC Bitesize, the Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and is a co-founder of the Early Years Black List alongside Laura Henry-Allain, Liz Pemberton and Joss Cambridge-Simmons. Follow him for practice-grounded thinking and an infectious belief in what early years can be. Instagram: @jamel.carly