Toy Mixing

I wanted to share this picture I took earlier this week during a self-guided activity period.  I noticed a group of students “mixing” two bins of toys.  Initially, I wanted to stop these boys because I wasn’t sure if they were ready to explore a variety of bins simultaneously.  Rather than stop them however, I took the opportunity to watch them play.  When I listened to them, they talked about a subway station they were building.  When I asked them about their structure, they were excited to show me the bridge, stoplights, and the train cars.  It was at that moment that I realized it wasn’t the children who weren’t ready for toy mixing, it was me.  By mixing the two bins of toys the students were exploring, constructing and creating.