Peer-reviewed articles
El Gemayel, S., Flewitt, R., and Goodall, J. (forthcoming) 0-3-year-old children’s digital language and literacy practices at home: A review of the literature. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy.
El Gemayel, S. and Flewitt, R. (2025) The play of forcibly displaced Iraqi and Syrian children seeking refuge in Lebanon: opportunities, culture, and trauma. Children’s Geographies, 1–16.
Winter, K., Flewitt, R., El Gemayel, S., Bunting, L., Arnott, L., Connolly, P., Dalziell, A., Gillen, J., Goodall, J., Liu, M., McLaughlin, K., Savadova, S., and Timmins, S. (2025) The rights of very young children in the digital environment of the family home: findings from a UK survey of children 0-36 months and their parents. Children & Society, 39, 995-1011
El Gemayel, S. (2023) Barriers and Lifelines for Young Refugee Children’s Education: The Experiences of One Young Iraqi Refugee Living in the Northern Suburbs of Beirut. International Journal of Early Childhood, 55, 369–385.
El Gemayel, S. and Salema, Y. (2023) Negotiating power dynamics through co-reflexivity in research with young children in disadvantaged communities. Children & Society, 37, 1596–1611.
Book chapters
El Gemayel, S. (2023) From ‘real spaces’ to ‘other spaces’ in young refugee children’s free-flow play. In T. Bruce, N. Yukiyo, S. Powell, H. Wasmuth, and J. Whinnett (Eds.), The Bloomsbury Handbook to Friedrich Froebel. London, UK: Bloomsbury.
Jones, P., El Gemayel, S., Salema, Y., and Flewitt. R. (2021) Play and childhoods: How are the relationships between researching play and children changing? In S. Jennings & C. Holmwood (Eds.), International Handbook of Play, Therapeutic Play and Play Therapy. London, UK: Routledge.
Book reviews
El Gemayel, S. (2023) Understanding the media in young children’s lives: An introduction to the key debates (1st ed.). Journal of Children and Media, 17(2), 266-269.
El Gemayel, S. (2016, October 3) Review of Chapter 19, The Human Rights of Children in the Context of International Migration, by P. Ceriani Cernadas. In P. Alderson & R. Rosen, Book Review Meets Book Club. Children & Society, 30(6), 520-527.
Reports and Online publications
Flewitt, R., El Gemayel, S., Arnott, L., Gillen, J., Goodall, J., Winter, K., Dalziell, A., Liu, M., Savadova, S., and Timmins, S. (2024) Children under 3 in the UK and digital tech: policy recommendations.
Flewitt, R., El Gemayel, S., Taylor, L., Arnott, L., Gillen, J., Goodall, J., Winter, K., Timmins, S., Savadova, S., Dalziell, A., and Liu, M. (2024) Top tips for young children's media use. (Infographic).
Flewitt, R., El Gemayel, S., Arnott, L., Gillen, J., Goodall, J., Winter, K., Dalziell, A., Liu, M., Savadova, S. and Timmins, S. (2024) Toddlers, Tech and Talk: Very young children’s language and literacy learning at home in a post-digital age. Summary Report. Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University.
El Gemayel, S., Flewitt, R., and Arnott, L. (December 2023) Toddlers, Tech and Talk: What does the literature tell us? Early Years Educator.
Flewitt, R., and El Gemayel, S. (2023) Young children and digital technology at home. Froebel Trust Highlights.
El Gemayel, S., and Rigon, A. (2020) Working with children affected by displacement. DeCID Thematic Brief #1, London: University College London. Retrieved from
El Gemayel, S. (2019, March 12) The colouring book information sheet: Involving young children in the research process through informed assent [Blog Post]. Retrieved from
Theses and dissertations
El Gemayel, S. (2020) Childhood and play ‘in-between’: The play of young Iraqi and Syrian child refugees following armed conflict and forced displacement to the northern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon (PhD Thesis). University College London.