Niki Buchan Natural Learning

Playing with 4 year olds and rules….so beautifully explained.

We were playing hide and seek. A four year old asked me if two people can count at the same time.
Lev Vygotsky (not him again!) wrote heaps about children and rules. Rules start off hidden. If you are having a game of chasey the unspoken rule is, one person gets chased, the other has to chase. Without following this rule, the game would be called ‘senseless running’.
Next, they understand the concept of the spoken (or written) rules (they see our society covered in them). However, at the age of 3-6 they don’t place a lot of importance on how strict rules are. Rules will change depending on the outcome you want. For instance, in chasey, you’re not ‘out’ if someone touches you, unless you want to be out.
When you get a bit older, you start to appreciate strict rule, as it adds to the challenge. For instance, in “what’s the time Mr wolf’, all 4-year-olds want to be the wolf. You have a hundred wolves, and one person sneaking up. When the coalition of wolves yell out a number, say twenty fifty o’clock, the sneaker-upper basically adds a thousand more steps, because they really want to be standing an inch from the dinner-time wolf as soon as possible.
7 year olds, on the other hand have one wolf, and everybody is heavily scrutinised to make sure they only step the required steps. And there are no ‘100 o’clocks.’ They value rules as a means of enabling an activity to run smoothly, fairly, and with a level of predictability. Just like societal rules.
So, when the 4 year old kid asks me if two people can count at the same time, I say “sure! It isn’t the internationally accepted rules of hide and seek, but when you’re four, rules are meant to be explored, not obeyed. You have a whole life of rules ahead of you. Enjoy your anarchist existence while you can”

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With 40 years experience in ECEC I have been around a bit....around the world, around so many different services and around so many amazing children, colleagues and friends. For 28 years I worked directly with children; owner, manager, director and head of centres. I have been part of the best and supported many to be the best they can be. I have trained so many who have gone on to become wonderful consultants themselves. I have worked in South Africa, Australia, Scotland, England,Ireland, Wales, China, South Korea, New Zealand, America, Canada, Sweden, Italy, Iceland, Norway, Denmark....have I forgotten any?

I have written a number of books on early years subjects close to me, I have lived in South Africa, Scotland, Australia and now back in Scotland, Australia said I was too old!!! I am old but I am also very experienced and hold a lot of knowledge, constantly updating through doing my own reading and research.

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Look for the wild places. Go to parks, but play on the edges in the creeks and the bushes. Follow the animal tracks for interesting adventures. Walk up fire trails to go higher and see the world from above, and play low in the bushes and branches. Paddocks offer an abundance of space to use our bodies, and microhabitats to discover. Wild nature is everywhere.
This is how we play.

Image of Little Birdwings children playing and quotes are both attributed to Niki Buchan Natural Learning