2yr old - when making friends?

[Petrichery]

My dd is 2yrs 5 months and is a v.bright, talkative and fun child to us and our family and, i think, to other adults.

However, she doesn't seem to be at all interested in socialising or making friends with other children her own age.

I had noticed this but had put it down to her still being a bit young yet to understand "friends", but last night was the annual parents' night at her nursery (she goes 3 days a week, and has since she was 7 months old) and they did nothing to help my worrying. They basically said no, she doesn't play at all with other children and yes, all the other kida her age did, and no, they didn't know why.

I should say that i'm not worried about her developmentally, she shows no signs of asd tendencies as i understand them, and as i say is great at interacting with parents/grandparents and imaginative play. i suppose i'm just worried she will be lonely and unhappy without friends. There are times when she seems to want to approach another child, say at the park, but doesn't know how to go about it. I know no one with children under 8, so can't facilitate it myself outside nursery. Can anyone reassure me that their dc came to this a little later? Or that their loners are happy anyway?

Is it maybe the class she in at nursery? As in are there not children that are similar to her personality or age maybe? She might not have found any one in her class she clicks with so might prefer to play alone.
Only say that as my son only has 1 friend in his class but the nursery have told me this is because all the children are a lot younger then him developmental even though though they are all in the 1-2 year as there a lot of difference in that age range. He moves after Christmas to an older room so we’re hoping he has more children with games he want to play and on his wave length.

THank you - that is a good thought. It genuinely hadn’t occured to me that it might be something as simple as just not having particular friends in that group of children. Also yes to the wide age range - there was recently a couple of third birthdays in her class, so i suppose i am comparing to kids who are a bit older and probably more advanced socially. Thank you, that does make me worry less

Hell, I'm 23 and I still don't like 'playing with other children'. Maybe she just prefers her own company at this point in her life? Nothing wrong with that as long as she is happy?

I think most kids at that age are still into parallel play, meaning they will associate with other kids but mostly play with themselves, at least my two kids were like that till around 4.

I have twins. My DS played nicely alone but didn’t make any friends at all in nursery really while DD firmed several close friendships.

When they started school aged 4 DS immediately formed a nice group of friends and has remained very popular ever since.

Kids get this stuff at different stages. I wouldn’t worry about it yet.

I did make an effort to invite other children in his nursery class round for play dates which was nice but I’m not sure it made any difference.