Imagine the scene. A role-play kitchen area is being used by a couple of four-year-olds. They are carefully creating some 'cakes' that they slip on to a tray and pop into the oven. A two-year-old who has been watching them grabs a spoon and pushes it into the oven and slams the door shut. A moment later, despite wails of protest from the older children, another random object is stuffed into the oven and again the door is slammed shut. The older children go off to tell an adult that the two-year-old is spoiling their play. So what do these little incidents tell us about two-year-olds and the way they play? And how we can we work to meet the play needs of two-year-olds?
A good starting point is to remember that children's play is usually a reflection of their developmental stage. Older children with more developed language and social skills enjoy playing with others and use their language as part of their play, while babies who are still developing perceptual skills can be fascinated by the sound and movement of a rattle. So, when it comes to meeting two-year-olds' play needs, it is important to be aware that a young two-year-old will have different play needs in comparison to a two-year-old who is about to turn three. A one size fits all is unlikely to be helpful. In the same way, you should also be aware that you may have some older children whose development means that they are likely to play in ways associated with a younger child.
COMMON THEMES AND PATTERNS
There are some common themes and patterns that many practitioners and parents report seeing in this age range. It is worth looking at these as they may well give us clues as to the type of play opportunities and resources that need to be on offer. A good starting point is the general consensus that repetition seems to be important during a play activity. A two-year-old might drop a cork into a bottle before looking for other corks to put in one by one. A child might be interested in the ping of a toy microwave and keep opening and closing its door.
There are many theories as to why this is a feature of play, including whether this is an innate way of developing physical skills through to schema theory which presents a cognitive explanation. What is not in doubt is that when something captivates a two-year-old, they are able to focus intently on it and are very purposeful in their actions.
Practical implications
The need for repetition within two-year-olds' play has many practical implications. It means that there have to be sufficient resources to cater for this. A single cork left out with a bottle is unlikely to be of use, but 20 or so are likely to work well. In the same way, a single bean bag that can be used for throwing needs to be added to so that a collection is available for throwing one after the other.
Recognising the need for repetition also changes the way in which we might respond to children during play. We may, for example, see that a child is enjoying rolling a car down the slide and so our job might be to pass another one to the child as a way of initiating interaction without disrupting the play.
PATTERNS OF PLAY
Whilst there is a clear need for repetition, it is interesting to see that regardless of the setting, children also seem to be fascinated by certain physical movements and sensations. Schema theory picks up on these and provides a credible cognitive explanation whilst also grouping them into categories and so is well worth taking the time to read about and explore in some detail. For the purposes of giving some hints and tips on providing for play, here are some things to look out for.
Feet off floor
There seems to be an inherent need for many two-year-olds to seek the sensation of getting their feet off the floor and also to practise the 'on and off' movement. You are therefore likely to see children fascinated by steps, perching on wooden blocks, walking on low walls. Providing for these indoors as well as outdoors is important and so think about bringing in a car tyre or some logs to meet this need. For children fascinated by steps, you might also move a safety gate up a step so that a two-year-old can have the bottom step to explore this sensation.
Transporting
This term is used in schema theory and really does sum up the two-year-old's needs to move things from one place to another. This you can see on both a large and a small scale, with children loading and unloading items from pushchairs and also children squatting on the floor moving clothes pegs from a basket into a tin.
The need to move things often causes organisational hiccups such as when a child is merrily emptying the contents of the sand tray on to the floor cup by cup or when lumps of dough are taken from one side of the room to another.
To allow for this, it is often worth setting up resources with the children's need to transport in mind. Try putting out an empty container next to the sand tray or a saucepan with a lid in the dough table as these can work as prompts.
Throwing
Many two-year-olds enjoy throwing items and clearly enjoy the action as sometimes they are not especially taking aim. Interestingly, children are quick to select items that 'feel good' when they throw them and so light air balls will be discarded in favour of more substantial items.
You might like to think about what you have available to cater for this movement indoors as well as outdoors. Look out for bean bags and consider setting up an adult-initiated activity whereby you attract their interest by starting the activity off yourself. I find that throwing things such as potatoes into a half-filled storage box of water quickly results in two-year-olds wanting to join me.
Posting
Many children love posting things down tubes and even through holes in fences or radiator covers! While there are plenty of commercial shape sorters on offer, they do not seem to hold children's interest as well as the larger 'real' play opportunities that children find for themselves.
Look out for cardboard boxes with holes in them, tubes of different sizes as well as 'naturally' occurring posting opportunities such as through the slats in the picnic table.
Open and closed
From curtains to cupboard doors, children seem to be interested in opening and closing. It is, therefore, important to create opportunities where children can do this safely and this might mean installing a curtain pole on a fence outdoors or taking out props associated with role play that seem to fascinate children such as the cash till or the microwave.
FOLLOWING INTERESTS
It has been long considered good practice to follow children's interests. This wisdom is essential when it comes to two-year-olds' play. While we may legitimately have to intervene to stop a child engaged in a dangerous activity such as climbing on to a window ledge, we do need to recognise that the action itself was fascinating for the child and so aim to provide a safe alternative.
I often find it helpful, therefore, to look at play plans and resources focused on the verbs that sum up what individual children have been doing. For example, what is there for 'dropping' or for 'mixing'?
As with any planning of play opportunities, there are no guarantees that a child will repeat what they did yesterday or use the resources in the way we expected, but it can be a helpful starting point.
SATISFYING AND SUCCESSFUL
Another good tip when thinking about play opportunities is to look at whether the resources will deliver in terms of the 'feel-good factor', as I suspect that most of two-year-olds' play is driven by sensation as well as exploration. This means that a metal scoop is likely to be of more interest than a plastic one as it gives the child more sensory feedback. A cardboard tube that is slightly on the heavy side is likely to be chosen over a small light plastic one. To assess the 'feel-good factor', it is worth trying out the movements as well as observing children carefully to see what they favour.
MIXED-AGE GROUPS
While older children enjoy and can access a classic nursery environment, for example, role play, dough table and mark-making area, this environment might not always work with two-year-olds. It is not unknown for a two-year-old to put all the felt-tips from the writing area into a bag and walk off with them! There can be tensions between different age groups.
There is no easy solution in mixed provision, but it is worth considering creating some spaces that allow two-year-olds to follow their own play agendas to avoid conflict. Some settings also take the view that the older children need some time each session where they can play without the younger ones 'sabotaging' their efforts. This approach is admittedly not for everyone, but it can be worth thinking about as a temporary measure.
ROLE PLAY?
How far children's language has developed seems to be an indicator of how they use role-play areas. While many two-year-olds are 'pretending' with items such as phones, rich complex role play is often associated with children with more fluent language.
In my experience, many role-play areas quickly become places where two-year-olds instead enjoy exploring what the component parts and props can do: hence the enjoyment of opening and shutting the microwave or the cash till or taking the bowl out of the sink and dropping items down the hole.
This means that we may find that where two-year-olds are sharing an environment with older children, their different play needs may set them on a collision course, and we may need at times to help both ages to find a compromise position which may include duplicating items.
OBSERVATION MATTERS
- What movements or sensations are of interest to children? How can these be incorporated into planning the environment?
- Which props and equipment are of particular interest to individual children?
- Are there any areas within the environment or equipment that seems to cause tensions between different ages/groups of children?
- What do parents say about their children's play at home?
- How much adult interaction during play are individual children having?
SKILLS FOR PRACTICE
- Recognise that the play needs of two-year-olds, especially at the younger end, are very different to older children.
- Be ready to divert children when their play is not safe but don't forget to work out what it was that was fascinating them.
- Reflect on whether there are sufficient opportunities for some of the common play patterns/schemas.
- Interact with children by showing an interest and acting as a play partner.
- Consider in mixed-age groups whether the provision is meeting the needs of all children.
- Talk to parents about how their child plays at home and if necessary explain why what might appear to be unwanted behaviour may well be play related.
- In addition, look out for a course or further reading on schema theory to gain further insights and perspectives on the way this age range plays.