consistently participating in large-scale pretend play as well as playing more cooperatively. Jess, Dani( our pedagogical coach), and I paused to reflect on what had worked well in this situation.
When Ben began using the scarves and chairs in an unexpected way, it felt disrespectful to his learning process and sense of belonging to make him stop. Instead of immediately stopping the play because Ben was using the scarves and chairs“ incorrectly,” we looked at this scenario through a lens of inquiry and curiosity. We wondered what Ben was getting out of using these materials in a different way than we had intended and what the other children could potentially get out of it as well. This pretend play scenario had a lot of moving parts and required patience, sharing, and consistent resetting of expectations and rules among the children and teachers to ensure both physical and psychological safety. It was obvious that Ben had a clear vision for his play, and we wanted to understand it first before reacting. We realized that this was a perfect opportunity to facilitate play and learning for Ben and the other children who were intrigued by this scenario.
At pickup that day, we told Ben’ s family about what had occurred and how exciting it was for Ben and the other children. They told us that they had witnessed a scenario just like that at the grocery store the previous weekend. This gave us insight into where Ben had seen a mopping scenario and insight into his interests. By pausing and observing Ben’ s play, we were able to provide more opportunities for complex pretend play scenarios that were meaningful to him and the other children and created a sense of belonging.
Expanding on and Inviting Others into Play Scenarios
Ben redefined how children and educators create belonging and engagement in our classroom community. His approach to pretend play scenarios
became an invitation to the other children to participate in this shared expression of their thoughts and ideas about the world. It reminded Jess and me to consider our goals for children’ s play, the amount of time for self-directed play, and our observations and reflections about play. As Ben engaged in this type of play more frequently, a child named Chris started to participate with Ben or create his own scenarios. This was particularly notable because Chris was generally capable of engaging in all different types of play with every child in our class, although he mostly preferred playing with vehicles and big body movement. Chris expanded on the large-scale pretend play scenarios by bringing in his love of vehicles. He built large structures to represent a train, garbage truck, or lawn care truck. This play automatically invited other children to engage, furthering the opportunities for building relationships among all children, creating meaning and belonging together, and self-expression.
72 Young Children
Fall 2026