Social Perspectives
In 1932 Mildred Parten described a continuum of four increasingly interactive social levels of play. She named these solitary, parallel, associative, and cooperative to correspond with children’s level of involvement with others during play. Although the time frames Parten initially described have been shown to be more fluid than was first thought, early childhood educators still widely accept this way of characterizing the social aspects of play over time (GEMS World Academy Chicago, n.d.; Howes, Unger, & Matheson, 1992).
In solitary play, the older infant or young toddler (1 to 2 years old) is absorbed in her own actions, independent of other children, manipulating objects and engaging in the type of practice or functional play Piaget described.
The next three stages of social play occur during Piaget’s cognitive stage of symbolic play and occur as the child becomes more interested in friendship and playing with others. Parallel play continues with 2- and 3-year-olds, who play separately but with increasing curiosity in the activities of other children nearby. You might see two children playing side by side with wooden tracks and toy cars, watching each other and one perhaps imitating what the other is doing but not choosing to share their cars and build a road together.
Between 3 and 4 years of age, preschoolers begin to engage in associative play, which involves sharing play items with another child, taking turns, and showing interest in play activities with a shared goal. For instance, you might see two 3½-year-olds both pushing a big truck to move a pile of wooden blocks across the floor.
Cooperative play is the highest form of social play. Observed in 4- and 5-year-olds, it is characterized by group play and differentiated roles. Although children may negotiate or argue about details, they will commit to a general understanding of how they want the play to evolve.