Stella brings over a pizza pan she has filled with sand and suggests they have a picnic. Jack is agreeable and the two of them fill more pans with wood chips. Henry joins in, too, retrieving a bread pan from a further place on the playground where Jack had delivered lots of pans and shovels via wheelbarrow earlier on. Henry fills it with wood chips then goes to get another. Jack notices the filled pan and moves it over to where his and Stella’s pans are. When Henry returns, he notices, and quietly returns the pan to its original place as Jack watches. Henry lines up his second filled pan beside the first, then heads off for another pan.

Stella brings over a ball to play with (it is for playing with while having a picnic).

Stella This is your picnic.

Jack Yeah. Now it could be a party picnic.

Stella This (ball) isn’t staying there, Jack. Why isn’t it staying there? (after much trial and error, Stella problem-solves a place to put the ball so it doesn’t roll away. Then she picks up a brush) We need to brush it so it’s a party.

Jack gets a brush and they brush pans. Then Stella brushes the climbing structure as Jack brushes the door. Henry grabs a brush and brushes his pans, too.

Stella Now it’s a party party. Where’s my shovel? Maybe it’s at Henry’s house. (approaches Henry) Is the shovel at your house?

Henry No.

Henry doesn’t realize that the “Henry’s house” is the place where he’s been getting baking pans. Stella finds a shovel there and runs back, showing it to Mark.

Stella That one’s from Henry’s house! (she digs and digs) Now it’s a real party party.

Henry My mom and dad make pancakes. (He lines up all his baking pans in a row, brushing each off with a brush)

Stella My dad didn’t came home yet.

They are done with the picnic and decide to go inside. Stella says But first we need to put it back where it belongs, and dumps the sand back into the sandbox, remembering that Mark had asked her, way back at the start of this play, to do this when she was done playing.

This play felt comfortable and satisfying for all. With no one else on the playground, there was no distraction, and the children could understand each other clearly. Talking and conversation was minimal, yet they enjoyed a common purpose, each engaging in his/her own way.