Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school not playing with peers?

It's normal. I don't know if it's normal for all kids or just gifted kids or some combination, though. I'm guessing the third is probably the case.

DS1 just turned 3, but he does not love playing with anyone his age. Part of the problem, I think, is that kids (ALL kids) at that age are very self-directed and still pretty self-centered... and TOTALLY biased towards things with which they've had experience. Your son wants to play lemonade stand, for example. Maybe the kid next to him has never seen a lemonade stand (I know my son hasn't) and wants to play dogsled race (my son has experience with this). SInce they're three and not great at communicating ideas to people who have no earthly clue what they're talking about, and since they're three and don't love things with which they don't have experience, they just sort of stare at each other like they're speaking different languages. That's just the nature of a 3 year-old's life, gifted or not. If they're kids who hang out a lot (like if they're in preschool together or live together or whathaveyou) and have developed some shared/similar experiences, they can pretend together more effectively. Otherwise, they literally just don't care what the other one is talking about.

And then there's the gifted/precocious issue. Exchanging money for goods and services is an advanced skill. Elaborate pretend is an advanced skill.

But I have a feeling if you get two gifted three year-olds who have few common, shared experiences or obsessions together, they'd likely still not "play" together in the sense that two gifted kids will when they're a little older.