Educators often speak about the ‘parallel play’ qualities that young children exhibit, where they play alongside each other rather than with each other. Over time, they model ‘associative play’ tendencies, where they use words and actions to engage with each other in a more socially advanced way.
Watching a group of toddlers navigate these different styles of play is fascinating. So too is their creativity.
What started as a ‘parallel play’ scenario at a local play group (with one child loading tennis balls into the back of two toy dump trucks and another climbing up the soft wedge-shaped block that formed part of the obstacle course), soon morphed into an ‘associative play’ activity between five children, which left them all shrieking with delight for over half an hour.
"None of the kids were worried about being judged or criticised by their peers and they were certainly not held back by any pre-conceived rules or norms... They were brave enough to take a risk and test their ideas…"
Without any guidance, these toddlers worked together to create an increasingly elaborate game that revolved around the dump trucks, tennis balls and soft blocks. The trucks were repeatedly raced down the “hill”. Sometimes they were both full. Other times only one was loaded. And sometimes they had completely different loads - socks, shoes or even another truck.
There was so much joy and excitement. The kids were captivated as they watched to see how fast the trucks would go; whether they would make it under the bridge (another soft block from the obstacle course); or whether they would crash loudly and tip over. The louder the crash, the more hilarious it was!
It was such a great lesson. None of the kids were worried about being judged or criticised by their peers and they were certainly not held back by any pre-conceived rules or norms about the purpose of the wedge-shaped block. Their sole purpose was to have fun. And they were brave enough to take a risk and test their ideas…because they knew it was the best way to achieve their goal.