Where and what children count during shared reading of early math books

In three related but distinct studies, we examined page layouts in counting books. We first coded 111 counting books to assess if the sets of items to count that appear in each book appeared on 1- or 2-page layouts; we found that most books included both types of layouts. We then read two investigator-created counting books to 47 preschoolers, prompted these children to count items on 16 pre-determined pages (four per layout type per book), and recorded what items and where (on what pages) children counted. Most participants counted the correct items (i.e., knew what to count) but were more likely to correctly identify where to count when the sets of items being referenced were on a 2-page layout rather than a 1-page layout. Finally, we observed behaviors of adults who, through publicly available video-taped read-aloud sessions, were reading counting books to an intended audience of young children. Although the adult participants sometimes indicated the layout of the item sets they were referencing (e.g., by gesturing towards the correct page or pages on which the item sets appeared), the adults in our study did so on only 14% of all layouts from the book they read. These studies are the first to address page layout as a potentially important feature of counting books, and the experimental study is the first to show that page layout used within counting books may influence children’s counting behaviors. •In counting books, the items to be counted appear on one page or across two pages.•Most counting books include both 1- and 2-page layouts to depict items to count.•Children correctly identify what items are being enumerated in counting books.•Children are more likely to count items across 2- rather than 1-page layouts.•Adults rarely indicate layout of item sets when reading counting books to children.