The children have built on what they have previously experienced in the sorting and matching activities to locate their play in a culturally relevant situation – making dinner for the family coming home. They have applied their skills at sorting and categorising actual objects and applied that to what they know about vegetables appropriately; large pebbles for potatoes, small pebbles for peas etc.

The richness of open-ended resources such as pebbles enables the children to use their imagination and steer their play in the way they want.

Working together enables Jade and Billi to confirm each other’s decisions, further consolidating their understanding.

Jade and Billi are cooperating in their play following each other’s comments and developing their roleplay of preparing a meal for the family.

Jade’s ability to count-on from eleven is unusual for her age and stage of development.