The objective of this research was to describe how a group of mothers of pre-school children spend their days in relation to the index pre-school child and in general. We examined time use by means of the Yesterday's interview for Mothers of Pre-schoolers (YIMP), a semi-structured interview, with 31 mothers recruited from mother and toddler groups. Detailed time budgets were obtained on three full days covering the content, duration and environmental context of mother-child joint activities. Reading was the most common joint activity. A substantial proportion of activities took place outside the home. Research implications in relation to the environmental context of joint activities are discussed.