An infant's exploration of toys, in the context of the mother's regulating
actions, is a setting for cognitive and social development. The aim of this
study was to examine the contribution of infant and caregiving conditions
to the quantity of focused exploration of toys for 8-month-old infants. Inf
ant biological conditions were gender and birth weight, including a range o
f both prematurely and term-born infants. The infant behavioural condition
was responsiveness to care. Caregiving conditions included mother's educati
on, the supportive, stimulating and sustaining quality of the home environm
ent, and the attention-directing and -supporting behaviour of the mother du
ring play. The direct and indirect effects of these conditions on focused t
oy exploration were modelled using multiple regression. The sample of 79 mo
ther-infant dyads included 43 full-term infants and 36 premature infants. T
he mother's attention-directing behaviour was a significant negative predic
tor of focused toy exploration. Infant birth weight did not have a signific
ant direct effect on focused toy exploration. Birth weight did not interact
significantly with responsiveness to care or with any of the caregiving en
vironment conditions to affect focused toy exploration. Further study of in
fant responses to the mother's attention-regulating and emotion-regulating
behaviour during play is recommended to better understand how the caregivin
g environment supports or thwarts focused toy exploration.