Although increasingly seen as critically important for pedagogy, young children's perceptions of number and of learning about number have not received much attention from researchers. This study uses a phenomenographic approach in that it seeks to map the range of possible conceptions about number and numerically-related learning amongst a group of nine children starting primary school in Ireland (aged 4 years 4 months--5 years 3 months). Dialogical interviews with individual children focused on three themes: Number as an aspect of symbolic functioning; The role of number; and How people learn about number. Children's perceptions related to each of these themes were categorised and these categories constitute the findings. The results of this pilot study indicate that as they begin school, some children in this study have already developed an orientation to learning about number, with differences emerging in relation to their perceptions of the extent of their own role in the process. Results also suggest that the children interviewed were constructing very individual understandings of the role and purpose of number, resulting in very individual metacognitive frameworks. (Contains 1 table.)