Social Play Development
This model of the social development of play was proposed by Mildred Parten in 1933. She suggested that there are 5 stages of social play development during which children learn and engage in activities that encourage and enhance socialisation skills.
Solitary Play – Birth to 2 ½ years of age.
Children in this age group play alone and don’t attempt to interact with other children that may be playing nearby. Their social interaction is low and they are usually playing with toys that are very different from the other children around them. They are absorbing information about their environment through all the five senses as they manipulate, mouth, bang and shake objects. They learn cause and effect and are delighted as toys, such as a jack-in-the-box, react to their actions. Communication with others is mostly confined to looking, offering and taking toys or other objects.
Parallel Play – 2 ½ to 3 ½ years of age
Children in this age group continue to play independently, but they will now sit among their peers and use toys and perform activities similar to those around them. For example: children in a sand pit will all be digging and filling buckets with the sand separately. They are aware of each other, and will sit side by side, but there will be little interaction.
Associative play – 3 ½ - 4 ½ years of age
In this age group children will start to interact and truly play with others. Children will start to form small friendship groups and move between different activities with the same group. Children also begin to learn to share; to loan and borrow toys from each other. It is suggested that the associations and friendships are more important than the activities. For example: children of this age in a sandpit will be sharing tools and completing a common goal.
Cooperative Play – 3 ½ - 4 ½ years of age
This is described as the highest level of social play and begins at around 4 ½ years of age. Children will continue to play in groups as above, but now they will start to negotiate the division of tasks. For example: a group of children pretend that they are working in a hospital. They will negotiate who will be doctor, who will be the nurse, who will be the patient and what the plot will be. They will then take turns in these roles and in suggesting the storyline.