One of the children (George) created a map, which did not look like a physical representation of the children's outdoor area, when his partner asked him what he was drawing he explained that he was using his imagination. The water represents the big children's playground, our area is the island, the dotted line is where we have to find the word treasure, which is hidden under the X!' George's partner, Pedro, looked puzzled and asked me why he was doing it wrong. I explained to him that Giorgio is not wrong, it is his interpretation of his external space, and this is how he imagines it. This allowed me to be thoughtful and flexible as a researcher and to ensure at all times that the child's voice was heard and that I was not shaping the research to the outcome I wanted. I also thought it was a beautiful example of children's imagination. The child's external area can represent a number of things to him, as expressed through George's map. As adults we will never think about how children behave, or how we once behaved (Christensen, 2004). Child-led learning and participation are increasingly valued, as reflected in the literature. The map creation activity was a great way to extend pupils' critical thinking, contributing to their communication and linguistic development. The examples of my observation reflect the impact of