This morning, I walked onto my patio expecting chaos. The tricycle was in the middle of the floor, and my bike was shoved in the corner.
But in the middle of that mess, I found something surprisingly orderly.
My two-year-old son, in Spiderman pajamas, barefoot, surveyed his work. He had lined up every pair of sandals he could find—my slides, his mom’s sandals, his Crocs—all in a perfect line.
He didn’t just throw them down. He placed each one carefully. He adjusted them. He stepped back to look. Then he adjusted again.
If your toddler does this too, you might be wondering: Is this normal?
I’m here to tell you: Yes. It’s completely normal. And as I watched him work, I realized it was actually amazing for his development.
It’s Not Just Playing, It’s a “Positioning Schema”
When toddlers line things up, they aren’t just making a mess (or cleaning one up). They are exploring a concept called a positioning schema.
A “schema” is just a fancy word for a pattern of behavior children repeat to understand the world. When my son lines up those shoes, he is asking his brain a series of questions:
- Can I make these stay in a row?
- Do these shapes fit side-by-side?
- Does this little shoe belong next to that big shoe?
He spent 20 minutes arranging those sandals. For a toddler, that is an eternity. He was completely focused—in a “flow state”—where the real learning happens.
The Hidden Math Lesson on the Patio
I didn’t realize it at first, but my son was doing math.
Lining up objects is one of the very first mathematical skills children develop. When he placed his tiny Croc next to my big slide, he was practicing one-to-one correspondence. He was creating a pattern. He was sorting objects by category (“footwear”) without anyone teaching him how to do so.
A Workout for Tiny Hands
If you look closely at the photo above, you can see this isn’t easy for him.
Positioning a shoe exactly next to another one without knocking the whole line over requires serious fine motor control.
I watched him squatting there, balancing on his toes. He had to reach out, place the shoe gently, and pull his hand back without bumping it against the wall. That requires hand-eye coordination and considerable patience. These are the exact same muscles and skills he will eventually use to hold a pencil, use a spoon or a fork, or tie his own laces.
Why They Do It: Creating Order in a Big World
The world is big, loud, and confusing for a two-year-old. They can’t control when they eat, when they sleep, or when we put them in the car.
But this line of shoes? He controls this.
By lining them up, he is creating order in his little world. He decides where the “NICE” sandals go. He decides where the black slides go. That sense of agency gives toddlers a massive boost of confidence.
How I Handled It (And What You Should Do)
When I first saw the shoe blockade, my instinct was to say, “Hey, put those back on the rack!” But I stopped myself. Here is my advice on how to handle the lining-up phase:
- Don’t Fix It. If the line is crooked, let it be crooked. If you reach down and straighten the shoes, you are telling them their way is “wrong.” Let them figure out the spacing themselves.
- Watch and Narrate. I took a second to just watch him. I said, “Wow, look at that straight line you made!” This validated his hard work. You could see the pride on his face.
- Join the Game. I tossed a few extra pairs of sandals into the pile just to see what he would do. He didn’t get annoyed; he immediately added them to his line. He enjoyed the challenge of fitting more items into his system.
The Lesson from the ‘NICE’ Sandals
There was something funny about this whole scene that I only noticed when I looked closer at the photos.
My sandals have the brand name “NICE” printed in big bold letters on them.
And you know what? It really was nice.
Usually, my house is messy. Laundry is hanging up to dry. Bikes are tangled together in the background. But for this one moment, on this one small patch of patio floor, everything was perfectly organized. My son had created order out of chaos.
He looked down at his work, wiggled his bare toes, and walked away. Completely satisfied. His job was done.
And me? I just had to figure out which pair was mine before I could leave the house.
