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Despite the growing national emphasis in China on supporting children's mathematical learning through play, rural kindergartens, a context that remains underexplored, continue to face challenges due to a lack of practical strategies to implement such reforms. In response, this study introduced Fleer's Conceptual PlayWorld (CPW), a play-based approach aimed at supporting a rural Chinese kindergarten teacher in navigating both policy expectations for play-based learning alongside mandated curriculum objectives in mathematics. Conducted in a public kindergarten in a rural area in northeast China, the research involved one teacher and 21 children aged 4–5 within a seven-month educational experiment. Drawing on cultural-historical theory, we explored the teacher's pedagogical shifts during the implementation of the CPW. Findings show that the teacher shifted her questioning strategies, dynamically positioned pedagogical roles to support children's intentions, and developed an awareness of the value of rural everyday experiences as meaningful resources to foster children's understanding of counting. This study highlights how CPW supported the teacher's mathematical instruction through imaginary play while addressing curriculum requirements in a Chinese rural kindergarten.
Wang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.