Preschool children's math exploration during play with peers

Young children are strongly encouraged to engage with math-related materials in early childhood classrooms; however, little is known about how preschoolers explore math during play with a peer. The current study examined 86 preschoolers' (Mage = 4 years, 5 months, SD = 7 months) math exploration during peer play, the characteristics and social participation of dyads associated with this exploration, and child-level factors in relation to their own and their play partner's math discovery. Math exploration was mostly nonverbal, focusing on spatial, pattern, and shape play; however, dyads who engaged in more cooperative play tended to explore more advanced math concepts and engage in more verbal math exploration. Dyadic analyses revealed that children's math knowledge contributed to their own and their play partner's nonverbal math exploration. Findings support the important contributions of peers to math exploration during play, and help us to better understand the nature of math-related play during early childhood. •Preschoolers' math exploration was mostly nonverbal, focusing on spatial and pattern and shape concepts.•Dyads engaged in cooperative play explored more advanced math concepts (e.g., enumeration).•Children's math knowledge contributed to their own and their play partner's math exploration.