In this article, we direct attention to what becomes critical in teaching activities for toddlers (1-3-year-olds) to learn the meaning of numbers. One activity we thoroughly explore is interactive book reading, based on previous research indicating positive learning outcomes from this type of mathematical activity, as it has shown to…

The focus of this article is on mathematics teaching in a play-based and goal-oriented practice, such as preschool, and on how different lines of actions may impact children's learning opportunities. Video recordings of authentic play activities involving children and nine teachers from different preschools were analyzed qualitatively to answer…

In this article we report on a study of children's attention to numerical content in picture books. Specific research questions are 1) how the content in a designed picture book directs children's attention to numbers, and 2) what kind of numerical reasoning the book reading entails. To answer these questions, we conducted an educational design…

This article is a discussion drawing on a learning study with a teacher working with one- and two-year-olds. The focal interest is a scrutiny of the use of manipulative objects, emanating from observations of a teacher's and children's use of, and responses to the use of, different objects. The concept of size and the notions "large" and…

This article reports on a small-scale investigation of how teachers organise goal-oriented learning in Swedish preschools. The revised Swedish curriculum (National Agency for Education 2011) highlights the need for children to develop their mathematics skills through activities that integrate play and learning. This study investigates how…