Examining the relationship between theory of mind and counting skills in children aged 48-72 months
Early number and counting skills constitute an important foundation for later mathematical development, while theory of mind reflects children’s ability to understand beliefs, intentions, and perspectives. Although both domains involve representational thinking, empirical evidence on their association in Turkish preschool samples remains limited. This study aimed to examine the relationships between early numeracy skills and theory of mind in children aged 48-72 months. The study was designed as a cross-sectional correlational survey. The participants were 102 preschool children, including 48 girls and 54 boys, attending independent preschools in Kocaeli, Türkiye. Data were collected individually using the Early Numeracy Test and four theory of mind tasks: the Sally-Anne, Bonibon, Chocolate Bar, and Ice Cream Truck tasks. Because the data did not meet normality assumptions, Mann-Whitney U tests were used for age- and gender-based comparisons, and Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to examine associations among variables. Children aged 61-72 months scored significantly higher than children aged 48-60 months on comparison, classification, resultative counting, general number knowledge, and total early numeracy scores. Gender differences were limited, with girls outperforming boys only in classification. In theory of mind, age-related differences emerged only for the Ice Cream Truck task, whereas no gender-related differences were found. Positive and significant associations were observed between several early numeracy dimensions and the Sally-Anne, Bonibon, and Chocolate Bar tasks, while the Ice Cream Truck task was not significantly associated with early numeracy scores. The findings suggest that early quantitative thinking and social-cognitive representational processes may develop in partly related ways. Early childhood practices may therefore benefit from integrated activities that support counting, perspective-taking, and representational reasoning together.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Furkan Albayrak, Türker Sezer
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Article Information
- Article Type Research Articles
- Submitted May 21, 2026
- Accepted September 28, 2026
- Published October 30, 2026
- Issue Vol. 5 No. 2 (2026): Pedagogical Perspective (December)
- Section Research Articles
