What you are building · seven activities for two children
A game that needs two
Turn taking gets much easier when the waiting has a job in it. A child who cannot wait thirty seconds for a turn will happily spend two minutes being the one who holds the rope, counts the coins or guides the walker, because they are still inside the game. Every activity here gives the person who is not going a real part, which is the design detail that makes the difference between sharing and queuing.
Giving the waiting child a job
The one who is not going is the guide. On Blindfold Rope Path Walk, one child walks with eyes covered and the other is the voice that gets them along the rope. Both parts are wanted, and children swap without being asked because each one is better than watching.
Or the one who is not going is the judge. Counting the coins that stayed on the saucer, calling the start of the race, checking the line was not stepped off. A rule that somebody has to enforce is a rule two children will argue about productively.
Or they build one thing together. A maze taped across a whole floor is too big for one child to want to finish alone, which is the most honest reason to cooperate there is.
Mixed ages work well on this shelf. The older child usually takes the guiding part and the younger the doing part, and that division holds for longer than a straight competition does.
What it looks like at each age
At three
Plays alongside more than together, and turn taking lasts about four rounds. A physical marker of whose turn it is helps enormously.
Give the waiting child something to hold. An object in the hand is the simplest turn-taking device there is.
At four and five
Holds a shared rule for a whole game and will remind the other child of it, loudly. Arguing about the rule is part of playing.
Let the rule argument run unless it stops the game. Negotiating it is most of what is being learnt.
At six and seven
Invents rules, assigns roles and adjusts the handicap so a younger sibling can win sometimes.
Stay out. At this point the best thing an adult can do is be somewhere else.
What is worth doing this week
Take an activity one child already knows and give the second child the other half of it: the counting, the calling, the guiding. Nothing new is needed, and it is usually the fastest way to get two children playing the same game.
Then let the rules be theirs. A game two children argued into shape gets played for an hour; one that an adult set up gets played until the adult leaves.
The activities on this shelf
Each of these has a real part for the child who is not currently going, which is what keeps two of them at the same game.
- Mirror Feelings CopycatFaces copied in a mirror, feelings named3 yrs / Under 5 min / Cards you draw
- Straw Blow Ping Pong RaceA ball blown across the table through a straw3 yrs / Under 5 min / Household only
- Blindfold Rope Path WalkA rope followed across the floor with eyes closed4 yrs / 5 to 10 min / Household only
- Painters Tape Balance TrackA track on the floor in masking tape4 yrs / 10 to 20 min / Household only
- Balance Beam Coin CarryA taped line, a saucer, five stacked coins5 yrs / 5 to 10 min / Household only
- Bucket Stilts Balance TrackTins with rope handles, walked along a line6 yrs / 10 to 20 min / Household only
- Maze Blueprint MappingA taped floor maze, drawn as a plan to scale6 yrs / 20 min or more / Household only
These are the activities that work better with two children than with one.
Nearby shelves
Cooperation shares ground with reading another person and with holding an impulse.