I am curious about this. My kid plays with his peers, but given a choice, he would much rather play with an adult or an older kid. Also, my kid's play style seems different from his peers -- some of them are in the superheroes phase (for example). My kid prefers to talk about stuff, how things work, and when someone told him yesterday to go play (on the equipment), he said, "But, I am playing". His latest thing to do is pun with words -- makes for very interesting conversation, but most kids his age are not interested in punning with words.
So, what I am trying to ask is, does this improve with age ? He is now in K. He does not seem fazed too much that other kids don't play like him, some days, he gets them to play his games, some days he does play superheroes with them. I do think that he will start noticing the differences in play styles as he grows older. Of course, there are still things he plays with them (building blocks, legos, playing tag, bike riding etc). He tells me that he does not have anyone to play/talk about the solar system (we came up with a silly game where we pretend to go to various planets/moons based on clues given) or talk about bugs. I asked him if it bothers him and he said he is fine playing those with me.
It seems to be hard for him to find a friend. He has friends, but treats them more like acquaintances. He does not seem to go to school, super excited to meet a friend, though. He does seem super excited to see me at the end of the school day, so we can "play properly".
