1. Topic & Research Question

Topic:

This study investigates the unique intersection of embodied play, artistic expression, and narrative construction within the Chinese early childhood pedagogical model of ‘Anji Play’(Jesse Robert Coffino,2019;Chris Moffett,2021) .Its core inquiry focuses on the post-play reflective session, where children translate their self-directed, outdoor physical experiences into paintings and verbal stories.

Research Problem:
Currently, the field of early childhood art education is predominantly characterized by a skill‑based paradigm(Sofie, 2020) , which tends to treat children’s drawings as aesthetic products to be instructed and assessed, rather than as autonomous expressions of their inner thinking and meaning‑making(Johanna, 2008) . This approach often overlooks the potential of art as a fundamental mode of cognition and reflection for children and fails to fully respect their agency as active meaning‑makers. The Anji Play model offers a distinctive practical case in which children’s self‑directed play and self‑initiated artistic expression are closely linked, thereby opening new possibilities for understanding and reconceptualizing art education.

Research Questions：
Against this background, the core of this study is to investigate: Within the ecology of Anji Play, how do children construct meaning by transforming their embodied, self‑structured play experiences into integrated visual‑verbal narratives? What does this process reveal about child agency and the role of art as a fundamental mode of reflection in early learning?

This is examined through two sub‑questions:

1. What specific symbolic and narrative strategies do children employ in their paintings to represent and reflect upon their complex play scenarios?

2. How does the Anji Play cycle—consisting of “true play” (characterized by minimal adult intervention) followed by child‑led “painting‑narration”—function as a coherent system for meaning‑making, and in what ways does it challenge skill‑based paradigms in early childhood art education?

2. Research Objective

The primary objective is to provide a nuanced, empirical analysis of children's paintings as reflective narratives rather than mere aesthetic products. It aims to:

(1)Theorize the "play-painting-narration" sequence as a holistic meaning-making cycle central to the Anji Play approach.

(2)Document and analyze the diversity of children's individual expressive styles and narrative constructions that emerge from shared, low-structure environments.

(3)Generate insights that contribute to international dialogues on reconceptualizing art education as a process of cognitive representation and rights-based expression, moving beyond technical instruction.

3. Conceptual & Theoretical Framework

The study is framed by a synthesis of sociocultural and rights-based perspectives:

Anji Play as an Ecology of Learning: The research is grounded in the defining principles of Anji Play itself: its commitment to love, risk, joy, engagement, and reflection as emergent phenomena in child-led play (Coffino & Bailey, 2019). The provision of open-ended, low-structure materials and the teacher's role as a non-intervening observer and documenter form the essential context (Moffett, 2021).

Narrative Thinking & Semiotic Mediation: Drawing from Bruner (1991) and Vygotsky (1978), children's paintings and stories are viewed as culturally mediated tools for organizing experience. The process is analyzed as narrative thinking in action, where children select, sequence, and signify events from their play to construct personal stories.

Multimodal Social Semiotics (Kress, 2010): Children's expression is analyzed as a multimodal ensemble. The study examines how visual modes (color, line, composition) and verbal modes (speech) interact, complement, and enrich each other in the construction of a unified narrative.

The Right to Play and Cultural Participation: The framework is firmly anchored in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 31), which recognizes the child's right to play, leisure, and participation in cultural/artistic life (Moffett, 2021). Anji Play is interpreted as a pedagogical enactment of this right, where self-initiated art becomes a legitimate form of cultural participation and documentation.

This study adopts a qualitative multi case study design and is conducted in 5-6kindergartens in Anji County. The study focuses on 12-14 children aged 4-6 and collects data through triangulation. (1)Children's artwork (core visual data); (2)Video recording of the narrative process after painting (capturing multimodal expressions such as language and gestures); (3)Natural observation and field notes for outdoor games (providing background for painting content); (4)Semi structured interviews with teachers (to obtain adult perspectives and educational understanding). The data analysis adopts an iterative thematic analysis and multimodal narrative analysis framework. Firstly, encode the visual theme and form of the painting. Secondly, analyze the language structure of the transcribed children's narrative. Finally, integrate visual and linguistic patterns to examine how they collaboratively construct meaning. The analysis will pay special attention to the differences in narrative strategies among individual children and the agency they embody.

1.Conclusions Aligning with Cox (2005), children’s paintings are powerful reflective narratives (not just aesthetic products).It is a constructive thinking process, not just representation. Anji Play’s cycle is a coherent, child-centered system prioritizing authentic expression over technical skill. Child agency is inherent, with individual narrative differences as valid expressions (Steele, 1999), and its integration of play, art and reflection effectively honors children’s rights, offering insights for global art education reconceptualization.  2.Expected Outcomes Consistent with recent research (e.g., Ring, 2006; Cox, 2005), this study expects to identify children’s personalized visual symbolic strategies (line, color, composition) and narrative structures in paintings reflecting Anji Play experiences—framing drawings as meaning-making rather than mere representation.It will confirm Anji Play’s "play-painting-narration" cycle as a holistic system (Kress, 1997), challenging skill-based paradigms. Stanczak’s (2007) view of images’ interpretive meaning and child agency in narratives (shaped by age, temperament) will be highlighted, supporting Anji Play as an enactment of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 31).

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