Another focus of the lab, particularly facing the needs of the Israeli Society, is ECEC. For example, Adi-Japha wrote the national Israeli curriculum for birth to 50 months of age. The lab focuses on aspects of ECEC, including childcare staff, childcare quality, and children’s well-being, social-emotional, and cognitive development.

Leading projects involve naturalistic observations within experimental designs, focusing on child development, childcare quality, and the relationship between childcare quality and children's development. 

Recent publications include:

Perry, N., Spektor-Levy, O., & Adi-Japha, E. (2026). Teachers’, parents’, and five-year-old children's perceptions of preschool classroom design and arrangement: what really matters to whom?. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 11, p. 1772850). Frontiers Media SA.‏ https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2026.1772850

יהב, ש., לאור, נ., & עדי-יפה, א. (2025). תנומה קלה? זמני השינה של תינוקות במסגרות החינוך לגיל הרך בישראל: זמני השינה של תינוקות במסגרות החינוך לגיל הרך בישראל. מעיינות; כתב עת ליהדות ולחינוך, ד(2), 385-429. https://www.talpiot.ac.il/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%99%D7%94%D7%91-%D7%A0%D7%A2%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%AA%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%A7%D7%9C%D7%94-%D7%96%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%A1%D7%92%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%9A.pdf

Perry, N., Adi-Japha, E., & Spektor-Levy, O. (2023). What a cool classroom! voices of 5-Year-Olds on the design of physical learning environments. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 63, 370-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2023.01.003

Shohet, C., Shay, M., Almog-Greenberg, C., & Adi-Japha, E. (2019). Early Friendships: Does a Friend’s Presence in Daycare Promote Toddlers’ Prosocial Behavior toward Peers? The Journal of Experimental Education 87 (3), 517-529.   https://doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2018.1496062

Iluz, R., Adi-Japha, E., & Klein, P. (2016). Identifying child-staff ratios that promote peer skills in child care. Early Education and Development, 27, 1077-1098.  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10409289.2016.1175240