CLASSIFICATIONS OF PLAY
1.Parten’s 6 Stages Of Play
There are play stages that children pass through in their first five years of age
Parten’s 6 Stages of play:
- Unoccupied play
- Solitary play
- Onlooker play
- Parallel play
- Associative play
- Cooperative play
Explanation of 6 stages of play
1.Unoccupied play ( Birth - 3 months)
Unoccupied play can be observed from the earliest month in life.
It is defined as sensory activities that lack focus or narrative
Key characteristics include:
· Lack of social interaction.
· No clear story lines during play.
· Language use is non-existent or very limited.
Examples of unoccupied play include:
· A child picking up, shaking, then discarding objects in their vicinity.
· A child hitting and giggling at a play mobile in a cot.
These forms of play may seem un-educational at first, but have an important developmentalpurpose.In the first few months of life children’s unoccupied play helps them orient themselves in the world.
2. Solitary Play (3 months – 2 ½ years)
It is more focused and sustained than unoccupied play.
During this stage, children will still have little interest in adults or other children during their play.
Key characteristics include:
· Increased focus and sustained attention on toys.
· Emerging play narratives, such as use of symbolic play (using objects to represent other objects, such as push around a block to represent
a car).
· Disinterest in other children or adults during play.
· Unstructured play, lacking clear goals.
Examples of solitary play include:
· Two children playing with their toys but never looking at or showing any interest in
each other.
· A child who has developed the ability to sustain interest in one toy for more than
60 seconds.
· An older child going for a walk through the park, exploring their surrounds.
to be employed.
Even in adulthood, we play alone to recharge, reflect and explore new ideas on our own.
Jean Piaget, a key education theorist, believes solitary play is vital for children to learn.
Piaget labeled children ‘lone scientists’, exploring their environments through trial-and-error and
discovery.
3. Onlooker Play (2 ½ years – 3 ½ years)
Onlooker play is the first sign of children showing interest in the play behaviors of other children.
During this stage, children will observe other children’s play without getting involved themselves.
They will often sit within earshot so they can hear other children’s play conversations.
Key characteristics include:
· Children showing interest in other children’s play.
· Withholding from play due to fear, disinterest, or hesitation.
Examples of onlooker play include:
· Younger children in a multi-age Montessori classrooms will observe
older children at play, but not get involved in the ‘big kids games’.
· Adults watching a sporting event.
· A shy child watching others play without getting involved herself due to
timidness.
Listening and observing are powerful forms of learning.
Albert Bandura, for example, showed the power of observation through his bobo doll experiments.
In these experiments, children would observe adults playing with dolls.
Children who saw children being aggressive toward the dolls were subsequently more aggressive
themselves when they played with the dolls.
4. Parallel Play (3 ½ years – 4 years)
Parallel play follows onlooker play. It involves children playing in proximity to one another but not together.
However, they will not share the same game play or goals while playing.
Key characteristics include:
· Playing in the same room and with the same resources, but not together.
· Independent exploration and discovery.
· Observing and mimicking.
· Having separate goals and focuses during play.
· Minimal communication with other children.
Examples of parallel play include:
· A brother and sister playing with the same Lego set, but constructing different
buildings.
· Children sharing brushes and paints, but painting on different canvases.
· Early play dates where parents bring their children to play together.
These dates are usually about getting children more comfortable with peers of the
same age, but younger children will often not start playing together too well.
5. Associative Play (4 – 4 ½ years)
but not necessarily together.
Associative play differs from parallel play because children begin to share, acknowledge,
copy and work with one another.
However, it is not quite the next stage (cooperative play) because children do not yet share common
goals during play – in other words, they’re not yet playing ‘together’ in any cohesive way.
Key characteristics include:
· Negotiating the sharing of resources.
· Emerging chatter and language skills. Children ask each other questions
about their play.
· Children are still playing independently with different objectives and strategies.
· Mimicking and observing continue to occur, but at a closer distance.
Examples of associative play include:
· Children asking one another questions about their play, what they’re doing, and
how they’re doing it. The children are nonetheless working on different tasks.
· Children realizing there are limited resources in the play area, so negotiate with
one another for which resources to use.
6. Cooperative Play (4 ½ years and up)
Cooperative play emerges shortly after associative play and represents fully integrated social group play.
The children will have the same goals, assign one another roles in the game, and collaborate to
achieve their set gameplay goals.
This stage represents the achievement of socialization, but social skills will still be developing.
Children may need support, guided practice
and scaffolding to help them develop positive social skills such as sharing, compromise, and turn-taking.
Key characteristics include:
· Children work together on a shared game.
· Children share a common objective during game play.
· Children have team roles or personas during game play.
· There can be an element of compromise and sacrifice for the common good of the
game.
Examples of cooperative play include:
· Imaginative play, where children take on the roles of their favorite movie
characters to act out a scene or create their own new scene.
· Board games where children need to take turns in order for the game to
proceed according to shared and agreed upon rules.
· Organized sports.
The central idea in this theory is that social interaction helps students to progress in their thinking. When students discuss things in groups, they get to
References And Further Reading
All references are in APA style.
Bernard, J. (1970). Mildred Parten Newhall 1902–1970. American Sociologist,
5(4): 383. doi: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27701690
Gordon Biddle, K., Garcia Nevares, A., Roundtree Henderson, W., & Valero-Kerrick, A.(2014). Early childhood education: Becoming a professional. Los Angeles:
SAGE. (Go to Chapter 10. Here’s a free link.)
· Parten, M. (1929). An analysis of social participation, leadership, and other factors in preschool play groups.
Retrieved from: https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29143846.
· Parten, M. (1932).
Social participation among preschool children. Journal
of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27(3): 243–269.
doi: 10.1037/h0074524.
· Parten, M. (1933). Leadership among preschool children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 27(4): 430–440. doi: 10.1037/h0073032.
· Parten, M. (1933). Social play among preschool children. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 28(2): 136–147. doi: 10.1037/h0073939.
· Parten, M. &
Newhall, S. (1943). Social behavior of preschool children. In Barker, R.,
Kounin, J. & Wright, H. (Eds.). Child behavior and development:
A course of representative studies (pp. 509–525). New York:
McGraw-Hill.
