Objects in early childhood education (ECEC) experiences have begun to receive a great deal more attention than ever before. Although much of this attention has emerged recently from new materialism, in this paper we turn to Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological concern with the (in)visibility of ‘things’ to illuminate the presence of objects within infant transitions. Drawing on notions of écart and reversibility, we explore the relational perceptions objects are bestowed with on the lead up to, and first day of, infant transitions. Recognizing the intertwining subjectivities that perceive the object, a series of videos and interviews with teachers and parents across three ECEC sites in Australia and New Zealand provided a rich source of phenomenological insight. Our analysis reveals objects as deeply imbued anchoring links that enable relational possibilities for transitions between home and ECEC service. Visible and yet invisible to adults (parents and/or teachers) who readily engage with objects during earliest transitions, the significance of things facilitates opportunities to forge new relationships, create boundaries and facilitate connections. As such, our paper concludes that objects are far more than mediating tools, or conceptual agents; they provide an explicit route to understanding with potential to play a vital role in supporting effective early transitions when granted visibility within this important phenomenon.

幼儿教育 (ECEC) 体验中的对象开始受到比以往任何时候都更多的关注。尽管最近出现了许多这种关注来自新唯物主义，但在本文中，我们转向梅洛-庞蒂对“事物”的（不）可见性的现象学关注，以阐明婴儿过渡中物体的存在。借鉴écart和可逆性的概念，我们探索对象在婴儿过渡前和第一天被赋予的关系感知。认识到感知对象的相互交织的主观性，澳大利亚和新西兰三个 ECEC 站点的一系列视频和对教师和家长的采访提供了丰富的现象学洞察力来源。我们的分析揭示了对象是根深蒂固的锚定链接，为家庭和 ECEC 服务之间的转换提供了可能的关系。对于在最早的过渡过程中很容易接触物体的成年人（父母和/或老师）来说，事物的重要性是可见的，但又是不可见的，事物的重要性促进了建立新关系、创造界限和促进联系的机会。因此，我们的论文得出的结论是，对象不仅仅是中介工具或概念代理；