Parent-Child Talk about Early Numeracy

The goal of the study was to examine how the type of informal number activity in which parents and their preschoolers engage and parents’ math-related beliefs relate to parent-child exploration of an advanced early number concept. Parents and their preschoolers (n = 46) engaged in a videotaped play session and parents were surveyed about their math-related beliefs. The findings indicate that the type of informal number activity that parents chose to play with their children predicted how frequently they explored an advanced early number concept with them. Additionally, some but not all parents’ math-related beliefs were related to parent-child number talk. These results suggest that identifying games that facilitate specific number concepts may be a good way for researchers to help parents and children explore more advanced early number concepts frequently. The results also highlight the need for additional research on the role of parents’ math-related beliefs in their support of their children’s early learning and school readiness