The longitudinal "Competent Children" project is intended to discover what impact family resources and early childhood education experiences have on the development of children's cognitive, social, communicative, and problem-solving competencies. This booklet summarizes the main findings of the first stage of this project. The report describes the competencies of 307 four-and-a-half-year-old children in the Wellington region, the Kapiti Coast, and the Wairarapa in the context of their family background, home activities, the length of their early childhood education experiences, and the quality of their current early childhood experience as they approach 5 years of age. Findings noted include the following: as children neared this age, the majority of children in this study were confident in their communication with others, could look after their own dressing and toileting, and solve problems in their explorations, games, and construction activities. Most children were familiar with books, and knew how books should be read, even if they had not yet started reading. About half the children could recognize the letters of their own name, and write their first names. Most children were familiar with numbers up to 10, whether in the form of counting or recognizing numerals. Just under half could recognize different shapes. (AA)