I have a 3.5yo girl in my care, everyone else is between 5 and 7. (I dont have the 1 yo over the summer). Its been a challenge with her from the begining b/c not only is she younger, she seems way younger than even 3.5yo. So, she WANTs to play with the other kids, but doesnt really play like they do, and I suppose its because she gets frustrated that she ends up annoying them in some way to have their attention (repeatedly knocking down things they have built, trying to take and hoard toys they are playing with, or simply just getting in their face and staying their with a smile on her face while they repeatedly ask her to move, or stop or leave them alone... and it goes on) Crying and coming to tell on them ("so and so touched my foot, so and so yelled at me, so and so has a toy that I want....") I thought this would get better after school was out and there would be more kids, thus more options for a playmate, but its really gotten worse. The more I say to the kids, the worse it gets (almost like it fuels her determination to irritated them) or the more I try to get her to play nicely instead of try to bother the kids in a negative way (ie help them build instead of knocking stuff down) it seems to fuel the other kids to leave her out, or yell at her etc, etc. It just seems that she is not fitting in... I am frustrated with refereeing every interaction (if I timed out either her or the other kids, someone would be in time out all day long), the older kids are frustrated with her, and I feel bad for her when I see her basically giving up and playing on her own or just sitting down to watch.... although now that I have the summer off from the 1 year old I have more time to play with her, I cant do it all day and, next year I'll have the 1 year old and my own newborn to contend with... what do I do?

I kinda wonder if she needs to be in a daycare where there are kids her own age...