Table 16. Percentage of children from age 3 through age 5 and not yet in kindergarten whose parents reported participation in home activities with child in the past week, by type of involvement and child and family characteristics: 2005
Characteristic	Number of children (thousands)	Home activities with child in past week
		Read to child	Told a story	Taught letters, words, or numbers	Taught songs or music	Worked on arts and crafts
Total	9,066	98	86	95	83	79
Child’s sex
Male	4,707	97	86	94	81	77
Female	4,359	98	86	96	84	82
Child’s race/ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic	5,177	100	87	94	82	86
Black, non-Hispanic	1,233	98	82	96	84	78
Hispanic	1,822	92	84	94	82	61
Asian or Pacific Islander,   non-Hispanic	282	96	91	97	76	84
Other race, non-Hispanic1	552	100	89	95	89	85
Family type
Two parents	7,007	98	86	95	83	80
One parent	1,870	97	84	94	81	75
Nonparent guardian(s)	189	96	87	92	78	90
Parents’ language spoken most at home2
Both/only parent(s) speak(s) English	7,792	99	87	95	83	85
One of two parents speaks English	219	91	81	96	84	69
No parent speaks English	1,055	89	78	92	76	44
Mother’s level of education3
Less than a high school	886	92	75	91	71	53
High school/GED	2,687	97	84	95	83	76
Vocational/technical or some college	2,461	99	88	95	86	85
Bachelor’s degree	1,832	99	88	96	84	87
Graduate or professional education   or degree	997	99	93	96	82	85
Mother’s school enrollment status3
Enrolled	1,078	98	85	95	84	82
Not enrolled	7,785	98	86	95	83	79
Mother’s employment status3
35 or more hours per week	3,250	98	85	95	83	76
Less than 35 hours per week	2,027	98	88	95	81	85
Looking for work	543	98	87	95	84	80
Not in the labor force	3,043	97	86	95	83	80
Mother’s work shift3, 4
Regular shift	4,496	98	85	94	83	79
Variable shift	780	100	89	97	79	83
Neighborhood conditions5
Concern regarding neighborhood   health and safety conditions	1,350	98	86	96	84	80
No concern regarding neighborhood   health and safety conditions	7,716	98	86	95	82	79
Household income
$25,000 or less	2,463	97	83	95	82	73
$25,001 to $50,000	2,424	97	87	94	83	76
$50,001 to $75,000	1,849	99	87	95	85	86
$75,001 to $100,000	1,099	99	84	95	77	83
$100,001 or more	1,231	99	90	96	82	87
Poverty status6
At or above poverty threshold	7,095	98	86	95	82	82
Below poverty threshold	1,971	97	84	95	83	72
1"Other race, non-Hispanic" includes children who were multiracial and not of Hispanic ethnicity, or who were American Indian or Alaska Native, or were not Hispanic, White, Black, Asian, or Pacific Islander. 2Complete descriptions of the categories for parents’ language are as follows: (1) "Both/only parent(s) learned English as child(ren) or currently speak(s) English in the home," (2) "One of two parents learned English as a child or currently speaks English in the home," and (3) "No parent learned English as a child and both/only parent(s) currently speak(s) a non-English language in the home." 3Children without mothers living in the household are not included in estimates related to mother’s education, enrollment, employment status, or work shift. 4Work shifts were collapsed into two categories: regular and variable work shifts. A regular work shift is one with set hours. A variable shift is one that changes from days to evenings or nights regardless of whether the hours are set by the employer or the employee. 5Parents or guardians respond "yes" or "no" to the question: "Are there any conditions in your neighborhood that make you worried about the health or safety of ((CHILD)/any of the children) in your household?" 6Children are considered poor if they were living in households with incomes below the poverty threshold, which is a dollar amount determined by the federal government to meet the household’s needs, given its size and composition. NOTE: Estimates include all children 3 through 5 years of age, and not yet in kindergarten. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Program Participation Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (ECPP-NHES:2005).