"I Have Idea!"

During gym class today, Daniel holed up underneath a ramp that had been connected to the ball-pit (like a giant carpet slide, so kids could run down the ramp and jump in).

I wasn't sure what he was up to, I thought maybe he was just being shy, or punking out (like he's done a few weeks previously). Instead, Daniel pokes his head out and says to me: "I have idea!"

"Oh yeah?" I respond, "What's your idea?"

He ducks his head back into his hiding space. Then he pops out again and says, "I have idea!"

So I figured out what was going on: he was pretending that the space was his house, and he was using a red gym mat as his "computer" (he was typing on it), and the handle-slot to the ball pit (where the colors of the balls show through a narrow opening) was the "monitor."

I looked around at all the other kids. The way they were playing (and tend to play all the time) is different. They tend to "use" the all the play-equipment functionally (they slide on the slides, they jump on the trampoline, etc). Daniel does this, too, but after awhile, he likes to set aside some time for himself to find a quiet space and pretend-play.