Is he imagining a whole world playing out in his head? That’s what my son does. He calls it “thinking”. He sometimes preferred it to other options especially options like third grade recess games. It wasn’t something he did because felt sad and left out. It was a activity he chose to do because he enjoyed it. Often friends would beg him to come play and he’d say no because he felt like thinking.
Now he chooses to play or chat with friends most of the time. I think that might be because he’s in an all gifted classroom and one of his friends is a master game organizer. She’s also kind of bossy. She assigns him coveted roles in the games. There are enough book lovers in his class that have read the same series and don’t think it is weird to do role play games based on books.
I don’t know if he’d still be thinking at recess if he were in a different environment. Maybe he would be. He knows it can look a little weird but he just doesn’t care sometimes. I saw him doing it off on the side of a play field at a daycamp once. I told him he looked strange. He replied, “I know. I enjoy it though and it doesn’t harm anyone. I don’t really care if these people think I’m weird. I haven’t really connected with any of them and probably won’t see them again after this week.”
If it is the same thing as what my son does, I’d say it might be something he out grows on his own when he’s ready. In the meantime, he might really be enjoying himself.
