A child learns with body and mind : A qualitative study on how cross-curricular preschool education can be integrated with physical activity in connection with mathematics and science

The purpose of the study is to find out in what way educators in different preschools work with cross-curricular activities in learning, and how they plan activities in everyday life with purpose to promote children's motor skills in connection with mathematics and science. The questions are as follows: What are the pedagogues' views on physical activity as part of cross-curricular teaching in preschool? How do teachers work with movement and learning in connection with the subject’s mathematics and science? The method we have used is qualitative interviews conducted with eight respondents from four different preschools, we chose to apply open interview questions to give the respondent room to share their own experiences. We have chosen three different subject matters that represent each major topic in our study and the first is mathematics that deals with the overall need for an educator who has knowledge of and uses mathematical terms in everyday life. The second is Natural science education that takes place in the outdoor environment and makes learning context more concrete for the children and gives opportunity for the educators to establish conversations about discoveries. The third subject matter is about physical activity and play, which is a big part of the children's play where they learn with their whole body. The results we have collected from the respondents have shown that physical activity does not usually form part of the planning in the teaching and that it mostly occurs spontaneously. Mathematics teaching integrated with physical activity usually takes place in conjunction with singing and movement where the children develop, among other things, rhythm. Nature is by the educators considered to be an excellent place to teach natural knowledge as it becomes more concrete for the children and takes place in a more natural way. The preschool department, which is on a bus in an outdoor area, includes a lot of the subject natural knowledge where they among other things often see, discover and talk about the environment and biology. A common view of the educators is that the children learn with their whole body and that it applies to all learning subjects in preschool