This study investigated the types of activities parents view as contexts for preschool children’s mathematics learning, as well as the differences and similarities in the activities within and across families. Parent-child dyads from six middle-class families were videotaped at home over two years as they participated in everyday events of their choosing (e.g., baking cookies, reading a story book) that the mothers believed involved mathematics learning. The results indicated that these mothers, predominately chose to videotape different types of play (29 activities) or everyday at-home events such as baking (15 activities). A limited number (11) of the activities involved commercially produced mathematics materials. Four families focused mainly on geometry concepts, one family engaged equally with geometry and number, while only one family focused primarily on number concepts. Implications of these young children’s mathematics experiences prior to school are discussed.

Session Type: Poster Session