Stages of Play-
Solitary Play-During
this first stage of social development, an infant is learning about
her own body in space. She is exploring her own hands and feet and
eventually beginning to manipulate toys. She doesn't yet even have an
understanding that she is her own person.
Spectator Play-
During the next stage of play an infant begins to understand that she
is a separate person and she develops an interest in observing and
interacting with others socially for play. This discovery occurs when a
child achieves the developmental milestone of object permanence,
usually between eight and twelve months of age.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_permanence
Parallel-play- This next level of social play for older infants and young toddlers involves playing near others but not necessarily
with
them. Two young children may sit side-by-side, using the same blocks
or reading from the same basket of board books. Two toddlers may play
together at in the dramatic play kitchen but they will each still
completely be following their own agendas.
Associative Play- During
the fourth level of play, children begin to copy each other and
participate in similar activities, however, without a definite goal.
Children may share toys and they may imitate others in the group, but
each child still acts independently. Children typically stay in this
stage of social development until their language skills are developed
enough to communicate their ideas and desires effectively.
Cooperative Play-
The final stage of play is reached when children can use language and
negotiation skills to work together to achieve the same goal. Most of
our Centipede class (age 2 1/2- 4yrs) has attained this final
level of social play. This is evident when they act out stories and
playscapes in which they decide to "be" someone or something. For
instance, Today, some of the older preschoolers were playing "Fairy Rescue". They each had a role and a shared goal of saving the city with magic fairy dust. They volunteered ideas and worked
cooperatively to resolve their conflicts in peaceful ways.
Grace- We don't want the city to die.
Layla- Then we need magic sprinkle dust!
Luka- The whole city will turn into poopy stuff (not gold) and everyone will be died forever.
Grace- They won't die if we put magic fairy dust on them!
Layla- We have all the stuff we need to save the city. Wait, I need my watch!
Luka- We have to fly above in our magic ship and sprinkle fairy dust down.
Layla- I have my magic puppy too.
Layla- Oh, no- look! That baby needs saved. Oh good, I saved it!
Grace- We need the super super fairy recipe book. Whoever wants to come, Come!
Layla- We need more stuff. Let's pile it all on our magic ship, ok guys?
Grace- That's enough, we're good. I think we are actually good.
Anna Lee pushed her baby around the room in the doll stroller. She stopped often to check her phone (calculator) and chat with her grandma, mom, dad, and dog, Bobby.
Zoe pretended to fill up the baby's sippy cup with water at the play kitchen sink. She filled it and took a few sips herself before offering it to one of the baby dolls. She walked around the room offering it to her friends and teacher, too. Periodically, she headed back to the sink to fill it up again.
Eva took her puppy to the park. She said he "needed to learn the slide" and he was "scared". She comforted him.
Eva- No be scared, puppy. I go with you and show you. See? Do you like the slide, puppy? He likes it!
Want to do again, puppy? Okay.
