How can we better understand childhood learning in its historical development? How do institutions (including family) influence and shape what is possible in early childhood? As part of a wider study in an Australian community pre-school, this paper focuses on how cultural-historical methodology can be used to understand institutional influences over time. Returning to an original workplace pre-school site as a field researcher challenged thinking about apparently invisible influences of historical development. Framing this study are Hedegaard's learning and development through participation in institutional practices model, and Vyqotsky's cultural-historical theory. This paper uses case study data from one family for building a methodological dialectic in order to theorize practices and thereby illustrate the concept of historical childhood development. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)