Learning to Play

So today unfolded like many days in the busy life of the Turtles: the older threes and fours immediately dove into an active dramatic play game acting out the roles of cats and caregivers. As some of the newer players started to arrive, they would watch the experienced players easily take on role, negotiate scripts, and work through different ideas. I sat down on the floor to watch, and soon I was surrounded by my youngest Turtles, also watching the play. The cats and caregivers game morphed into a restaurant game with the fluidity of young imaginations, and I joined the game, with two of my three young Turtles following me. They sat down at the restaurant, becoming the "babies" and the "customers" according to the other Turtles who declared themselves the waiters and the cooks. The waiters and the cooks played out a sophisticated script of making and bringing menus, asking for orders, bringing food, clearing plates, bringing a check and receipt, and even making a to-go box for the "left-over chocolate cake." The customers happily followed along the lead of the master players, and towards the end, one "baby" even asked for the chocolate cake for her "treat." I talked about the game later with one of the younger kids, and she said that next time, she wasn't going to be a baby. She was going to be a "big girl!"
It was so neat to see the ways that the older children scaffolded the younger children, and to see how the older children were truly the "master players," that Betty Jones describes in her book The Play's the Thing. Sometimes people are skeptical about mixed-age groups, worrying that the older children won't have the stimulation they need, but in my experience, it is just the oppostie: mixed age groups bring out the best in all the kids. Just like when my brothers and I were playing elaborate clubhouse games with all the kids on the block, the older ones figured out ways to teach the younger ones, and the younger ones got to learn from them.

On the playground the other day, two of my older kids were tearing around the patio on the tandem bike. An almost three year old from another class watched with excitement, following them and wanting to try their bike. They started to get annoyed with him, and then I pointed out that he was still figuring out how to play, and maybe they could help him learn. It was like switch had been flipped. Their faces lit up, and they glibly told him, "You can have a turn in five minutes." The little one beamed, and the big boys sped off, now not minding the company, understanding that he was waiting his turn, and maybe, could even be part of the game.
I feel like I am just scratching the surface of the many ways that younger and older children can learn together. I want to think more about leadership opportunities for the older ones, and ways to help the younger ones feel powerful and important too. I want to observe how this naturally happens and consider how I can scaffold it. I want to think about how to talk about these growing skills in Morning Meeting, drawing on the reflection skills of the older ones and the observation skills of the younger ones. I am excited by the taste of this that I am getting this year, and excited for next year, when I will have an even wider range of ages!