A Simple Small World and the Evolution of Play

Hi friends!

This morning I am working on editing a ton of photos for my creative space reveal, but I wanted to share a little story with you that I am tickled pink about. Yesterday, completely on a whim, we decided to visit a pet store.

Ok, so I may or may not have used it as bribery for good behavior in the fabric store next door. Judge if ye must.

Anyway, the twins had a blast looking at all the different creatures that were on display in the store. They spent over an hour walking from aisle to aisle, exclaiming over all the tiny animals and their various foods, shelters, and poops 😉 All while wearing their favorite dress-up hats. Again, judge me if you will. I pick my battles.

An inexplicably small photo of the twins in their best hats before we left on our outing.

After we got home, we ate lunch and did our “remember time” ritual where we talk about our morning activity and write/draw about it on our family chalkboard for Daddy to see at dinner. Here is the board after we were done. I drew every single creature that they talked about until I ran out of room. Admire my artistic abilities if you dare.

Notice the boxes drawn around the fish, turtle, and bird? Those are “tanks” and “cages” specifically commanded into being by my son. He’s a sucker for the details!

After nap, the twins requested their “animal guys,” which in layman’s terms is a large bin of little people animals that I won in an ebay action back in my working days when I was trying to build up my stash of therapy toys. To my surprise and delight, they sorted through the numerous animals and picked out the few that were pet store creatures, specifically a fish, an iguana (which they called a gecko), and a vulture, which apparently was the closest approximation of a parakeet that was available. Then Will decided that the gecko needed a home, so he asked me for a “tank.” Amused, I got him a plastic food storage container from the kitchen. Then, he decided the gecko needed some food (we saw them eating mealworms at the store), so I gave them a few macaroni noodles in a small bowl. Next, Sydney requested water, so I scrounged up some blue aquarium rocks from our sensory stash and put a few in a little bowl for them. Last, Will asked for a little tree like the gecko was perched on in the pet store, which I didn’t have (and it was raining and cold outside so something from the garden was out of the question), but I did find some faux moss in our stash that was acceptable. After the gecko’s basic needs were met, the twins amused themselves with their completely child-led simple small world until Daddy came home from work! They fed the gecko, put the gecko to bed in the moss, let the fish swim in the water dish, transferred all the “water” to the fish tank (another plastic container), and transferred it all back again very carefully for the parched gecko.

So why did this excite me so much that I had to call my mom at 10:30 this evening to tell her about it, and whip up a quick post so I could tell you about it? The evolution of play, my friends! The twins have been doing symbolic play for a while now, but this demonstrated a whole new level of mastery- this was not a small world play experience that I created for them, it was totally their idea! The development of symbolic play happens gradually…first children watch you as you demonstrate simple play schemes for them, and then they begin to imitate you and eventually create their own play experiences after they have had some practice. This step is really exciting because it represents a big leap in cognitive development and also signifies a deeper capacity for language learning. It also shows a bit of early planning and problem-solving…granted, it will be even more awesome when they are able to brainstorm and track down their own items for representational play (things to symbolize a tank, food, etc.), but this is such a great indicator that those days are coming soon!

I really must start our day, but I can guarantee that more symbolic play posts are coming your way soon…it’s one of my favorite subjects to get excited about!

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