Across the globe young children are increasingly spending time in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Exposure to ECEC settings is associated with positive developmental outcomes when they are of high quality. Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) measure and improve the quality of children’s experiences in ECEC settings. However, they rarely include children’s perspectives directly. This is at least in part due to the challenges associated with interviewing young children, and a lack of guidance on how to utilise their feedback. This study employed photovoice methodology to understand children’s preferences and perspectives related to their experiences in their ECEC setting. We then qualitatively mapped children’s responses onto a classroom level, measure of quality as a way of understanding overlap in children’s perspectives on quality in ECEC and those held by professionals in the field. Twenty-one children were interviewed from five ECEC programmes in Halifax, Canada. Children largely reported that their favourite parts of care included (1) materials/activities; (2) descriptions of the uses of physical spaces in their ECEC settings; and (3) other characteristics. Qualitative differences were found in children’s preferences based on their care setting. Some children preferred activities in designated areas, whereas other children preferred materials. Interestingly, few children stated preferences for socialising with peers or educators. The potential of this method for eliciting children’s input on their experiences and implications for policy and practice are discussed.
