Peer-reviewed article
Being touched – the transformative potential of nurturing touch practices in relation to toddlers’ learning and emotional well-being
Lone Svinth ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This qualitative study explores how nurturing touch practices like massage are used in Danish early childhood education settings with toddlers. Thirteen practitioners shared their experiences through written narratives about how these practices affected their relationships with children and children's emotional well-being and learning. Practitioners reported that touch practices enhanced their sensitivity to children, improved the emotional connection between them, and helped toddlers become more relaxed and body-aware. The research suggests that physical touch and practitioner-child relationships are important dimensions of toddler learning and development that deserve more attention in early childhood policy and practice.
Key points
- Practitioners reported that nurturing touch practices enhanced their sensitivity and created a stronger intersubjective space with children
- Toddlers appeared more attentive to their bodies following exposure to touch practices
- Children showed signs of increased relaxation and physical flexibility
- The study highlights the role of practitioner-child relationships in supporting children's bodily, non-verbal and emotional experiences
- Nurturing touch practices were used across 10 different early childhood education and care settings in Denmark
Limitations
This is a qualitative case study based on practitioner narratives without direct observation of children's outcomes or objective measures of emotional well-being and learning. The study cannot establish causal effects or compare outcomes between settings with and without touch practices, and findings may reflect practitioner perspectives rather than independent assessment of child development.
Abstract
The article investigates how nurturing touch practices, such as gentle brush massage, finger massage and body massage, are applied in 10 Danish toddlers’ early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Thirteen practitioners contributed to the study with written narratives on their experiences with nurturing touch practices and how they influenced their relationship with the children and the conditions for toddlers’ emotional well-being and learning at the nursery or family day care. This qualitative case study is built on a relational ontology and draws on Hundeide’s ([2007]. When empathic care is obstructed – excluding the child from the zone of intimacy. In S. Bråten (Ed.), On being moved from mirror neurons to empathy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins) concept of a zone of intimacy. The practitioners describe how nurturing touch practices can enhance their sensitivity and the intersubjective space between them and the children. The practitioners also describe how toddlers seem to become more attentive to their bodies, more relaxed and flexible. The study invites policy-makers and practitioners to broaden their focus on children’s learning and to consider how the mutual relatedness between practitioner and child influence children’s bodily, non-verbal and emotional experiences and participation.