Magnetic Tiles

The little girl has been blessed with a series of playdates recently with a relatively large number of children (about ten each). That's a far cry from her usual playdates in the past with only one to three children. I have to say that large group playdates with children of different genders and mixed ages are totally awesome. Here's one example.

Last weekend, my family came over, along with my eight nephews and nieces whose ages range from 5 to 15. The little girl who's turning 3 this year is the youngest of the lot. So the girls, six of them including the little girl, immediately started playing with the play food, tea sets, cooking pots and other cooking and baking paraphernalia at the kitchen set.

Then they discovered the Lego sets in the shelf and started building, which got me really excited. I have a few sets which I had grouped together in boxes so apart from the many standard bricks, there are also a lot of animals, people and vehicles. The little girl is not into building with the Lego yet so it was amazing to watch the girls build this and that. They have so much creativity which I am sorely lacking!

Absorbed in her Lego building

Then I looked at the three big boys and they were twiddling their thumbs and probably talking about school or soccer. So I took out the box of magnetic tiles and told them, "I think you'll enjoy these." I watched as they opened the box cautiously, probably wondering if there was something cutesy inside like a baking set. Then they saw the tiles, took them out and started exploring. Before long, they realised that the tiles were magnetic and very soon after, they were building too.

Team building

Although it was the first time that they were playing with the magnetic tiles, they were at it like a pro. They managed to build rather complex structures with almost all the tiles. They helped each other, communicated and there was no squabbling. In fact it was rather silent and I wondered if they communicated using telepathy. Well the girls did the above too while building together, except for the no squabbling part.

Having a go at the magnetic tiles

Then two days later, I decided to let the little girl play with the magnetic tiles at her light table. I gave her the small squares and some dinosaurs and watched her play. At first, I thought she would try to make a cube as one of her cousins had made a few of that for her as homes for her dinosaurs. But then she had other plans.

Dinosaurs and magnetic tiles

She started out arranging the square tiles into neat rows then placed the dinosaurs on them. For a while, the dinosaurs looked like they were on a very colourful disco floor. But I didn't say that to her as I didn't want to give her any ideas. I waited a bit more.

 Dinosaurs on disco floor

Then she raised the top row of tiles with my help, followed by the bottom row, and she made a tunnel for the dinosaurs. I couldn't help but rejoice as it was the first ever 3-dimensional structure she has made with the tiles. Immediately I knew that she had observed her cousins while they were playing and she was trying to imitate something they had done. 

A tunnel for her dinosaurs

I could see that she was ecstatic of the structure she had built and proud of it too. She called out to her papa and exclaimed, "Papa, the dinosaurs are in a tunnel! They cannot get out!" But then she realised that the ends were opened and they could get out so she asked for the triangular tiles to close the ends. After playing peek-a-boo with the dinosaurs for a while, I had to ask her to continue the next day as it was past bedtime.

Playing peek-a-boo with the dinosaurs

I have noticed for a while that the little girl, as with all children I suppose, learn a lot faster by watching other children play, especially the older ones. As the little girl doesn't go to school for now, I guess it is my responsibility then to arrange playdates for her. If nature can be her playground, then her friends can be her teachers. And her mummy? I would be happy to be the facilitator.