ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the various ways in which the concept of the “everyday” has been explored within the field of early childhood. Drawing upon social and material turns in childhood geographies, childhood studies, and early childhood education, we explore the ways in which every/day enactments in early childhood centres—those mundane routines and rituals that come to structure the liminal spaces between the events typically thought of as “real” teaching and learning—might comprise the most impactful and complex portions of the school day for young children and their teachers. This introduction invites readers to critically engage with the common transitions and routines of a hypothetical day in an early years centre; each chapter that follows draws upon both theory and practice in order to demonstrate the complexity inherent in the seemingly mundane.
