Pre-schooler Likes to Dump His Toys in a Pile

Oh, yes, dump and sort is quite the activity of the younger set! Susan got it right-- it's about the development of sorting and categorization skills, and kids need loads of hands-on practice to do this. Today, my preschoolers were playing stone soup in an old dutch oven and it had everything in there: 4kinds of nuts, pretend pasta, wooden veggies and fruit, and the stone.... and we took about 5 minutes sorting it back out, using tongs and fingers and having fun "making the little kitchen beautiful" again.

Toddlers do a 'dump and load' sort of thing, dumping baskets out. My almost 4 yo son likes to take three or four collections (puzzles, lacing beads, sorting spindles, whatever madness he can find) and dump them together. I do have to sit with him and help him sort them out, or give some clear directions, as it can be fun to dump but he'll need support for sorting. (This can be overwhelming for little ones.)

I also wonder, if your son is watching Thomas, I know there are quite a few of those stories where the trains have coal or snow or other objects dumped upon them and they get stuck. So he might also be incorporating that storyline into his play. But don't worry-- totally developmentally normal. I always just make sure that when these big "dumps" happen, that we get things put away before we get out more toys.

NORMAL.

It is developmental based.
They will also start to 'categorize' and organize things as well, grouping it.

My kids did that too.
Normal.

Also read this article on role playing:
http://stage30.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=679
Because this will happen too.

At this age, their 'emotions' are not fully developed yet. They are learning...

Normal but annoying toddler behavior. My 2 year old daughter likes to dump things or put lots of small pieces in a bag or purse. For the sake of my sanity I sometimes put toys with many small pieces out of toddler reach. I will rotate which ones are out for my kids to play with. That way at least you have a better shot of finding all the pieces of one set or another.

Mine do this. I don't know why.

Hi. if you have ever seen some of te Thomas T.V. shows, you'll see that sometimes the engines will get themselves into a little predicament where they will then have to work out a solution for themselves, either by themselves or with help from a friend. Your son is most likely realizing that he can create a problem and form a solution. By saying "poor Jimmy" or "poor henry", etc. he is realizing that there is a problem he needs to solve. As long as he doesn't continue this behavior in a harmful way (such as burying himself under things heavier than his clothing, there should be no reason for worry. Encourage his problem solving skills.
Hope this helps.

HAHA Did he see a Thomas show where one of the trains was buried.
He's got a good imagination.

Too funny! My son just turned 3 and he's been doing that for a while. Now's a good time to start telling your son that if he's big enough to dump everything out, he's big enough to put it back when he's done! I've started telling my son that any toys that are left on the floor are going to be thrown away, then we'll set a kitchen timer. So far he's picked up every single thing before the timer - every time - even the tiny little bits of broken crayons!