SESSION 2 – FEB 2, 2025 all their skills from previous play and apply them to

a social situation. Children can start to enjoy

LESSON 3 – PARTEN’S STAGES OF PLAY their play with others.
 A child’s healthy development revolves Associative play is a natural progression from
heavily around play. parallel play with children now prepared to
 Play allows children to explore the world acknowledge and interact with each other.
around them through imagination and While children in this phase are happy to share
creativity while encouraging physical, resources and acknowledge each other, they still
cognitive and social-emotional largely operate on an individual level with individual
development. play goals.
 As they grow, children evolve the way they
play to coordinate with their level of At this stage children will ask questions about
development. each other’s play and willingly negotiate
 Researcher Mildred Parten identified six sharing of resources. They are still primarily
stages of play that children progress focused on their own goals and are comfortable
through in their first 5 years of development. working side by side on their own individual tasks.

6. COOPERATIVE PLAY (4 + years)

1. UNOCCUPIED PLAY (birth to 3 months)
As the name suggests, this stage is about
This type of play sets the foundation for the working with and cooperating with others
stages that follow. It’s a period of time where during play. This stage can be difficult for children
babies and young children take part in unstructured as they are still navigating how to share, take turns
play – mostly by exploring materials around and problem solve. It’s important that children
them without any sort of agenda. This play is continue to learn positive emotional expression as
scattered, however it lays the groundwork for well as appropriate ways to navigate social
manipulating toys and learning about their world. interaction during cooperative play.

2. SOLITARY PLAY (birth to 2 years) Cooperative play is the logical extension of

associative play as children become more
This type of play occurs when little ones are confident and socially interactive. During this
exploring on their own. Without anyone from the stage, children engage in what could be described
outside world manipulating their environment, as “fully play,” where common goals are shared
children involved in solitary play can explore freely, within a game. Roles are often assigned and
allowing them to unlock problem-solving skills, swapped as the game progresses.
cognitive skills, and much more. It also prepares
them to play with others. Cooperative play helps children to develop
socially, although there will be hurdles to
3. SPECTATOR / ONLOOKER PLAY (2 years) overcome along the way as they learn such
values as sharing, taking turns and
Onlooker play involves children watching others compromise.
playing without joining in. Although it might seem
concerning that children are not participating in Cooperative play is seen as key factor in
play, people naturally learn from watching others. developing social interaction as it presents
It allows children to observe social skills, opportunities to see different perspectives and
relationships and other forms of play review existing ideas.
manipulation.
LESSON 4 – TYPES OF PLAY
4. PARALLEL PLAY (2 + years)
Dramatic or Fantasy Play
This type of play involves children playing near
or beside one another without interacting - Focuses on a child’s most impressive tool,
directly. For example, two children might be their imagination.
playing with blocks on the rug without necessarily - Any type of fantastical activity falls into this
building something together. This stage really category such as dress-up, pretend house,
guides children to move into the next stage of or make-believing he/she works at a
social play. restaurant.
- “They’re trying out behaviors to mimic what
5. ASSOCIATIVE PLAY (3 to 4 years) they see in the real world,” like holding
conversation and cooperating with others.
As children grow, their interest in the object or (Dr. Starnes).
game itself becomes less so. Their focus shifts to
the people around them. This is their time to take
Physical Play Guidelines for Developmentally Appropriate
Practice
- Involves body movement, but not
necessarily in a competitive setting.
- Examples are playing tag, throwing a
Frisbee, dancing to music and riding - Creating a caring community of learners
scooters. - Engaging in reciprocal partnerships with
- Can develop fine and gross motor skills in families and fostering community
children. connections
- Also helps with balance, hand-eye - Observing, documenting and assessing
coordination, muscle development and children’s development and learning
more. - Teaching to enhance each child’s
development and learning
- Planning and implementing an engaging
Constructive Play curriculum to achieve meaningful goals
- Demonstrating professionalism as an early
- Through constructive play, children create childhood educator
something with materials in an organized
way.
- In this play, children rely on their ideas to
navigate the world around them.
- Teaches about persistence, planning,
creativity and logical thinking.
- Kids also get real-world experience with
scientific and mathematical concepts, which
often fuel their natural curiosity.

Competitive Play

- Consists of organized activities with rules

and winners.
- Examples are family board games and
sports.
- Not only do children learn about teamwork
through competitive play, but they also gain
experience with taking turns, following rules
and coping with failure – all important
lessons for navigating society.

Core Considerations on Developmentally

Appropriate Practices

1. Commonality – current research and

understandings of processes of child
development and learning that apply to all
children, including the understanding that all
development and learning occur within
specific social, cultural, linguistic and
historical contexts.
2. Individuality – the characteristics and
experiences unique to each child, within the
context of their family and community that
has implications for how best to support
their development and learning.
3. Context – everything discernible about the
social and cultural contexts for each child,
each educator and the program as a whole.