Children Who Gather

I think my son was a raccoon in a previous life. The way he gathers and collects things throughout his day, is like a raccoon who steals shiny objects and hoards them in his den.
At some point, he decides he has enough items and then spends a fair amount of time placing them in a specific arrangement.

Sometimes I will walk into his play room after he has left and there on the rug arranged in a precise pattern, I will find assorted wooden food items, shapes, cars, parts of Mr. Potato head, plastic eggs, a few animals and maybe some furniture pieces. It reminds me of the scene from the movie Poltergeist, when the kitchen chairs re-arrange themselves if no one is looking.

I could understand if perhaps the things he gathers were related, but to my adult brain, they appear random. They are definitely not because if I move one, he promptly tells me I‘ve ruined it! Ruined what, I don’t know.

I have asked him a few times what he is doing and he says he is making a maze or a map. Other times he says he is having a scavenger hunt. I think it looks like he’s making a game board, maybe something he saw on a computer game. Once he said “ It’s a pattern, silly”. That part I get.

I’ve watched him run suddenly into a room, open a draw, grab something and say “ Ah ha, perfect”, then run off to add it to his collection.
He does the same thing when it’s time for bed. He can’t get tucked in without a collection of objects (maybe 10 or 15) arranged on the bed with him. I always have to go in and clear them away after he falls asleep.

So far he has only gathered up things that belong to him, but I’m putting a lock on my jewelry box just in case.