The Importance of Play: Part Four

Well, for those of you who have been with us from the beginning, we’ve covered a lot of ground in our Importance of Play articles.  Now, however, we’ve reached the end.  Not the end of play, of course, but the end of our more detached, scientific view of play.  In this final segment, we will be discussing the stages and categories of play.  While the stages of play generally apply to infants, toddlers, and children respectively, the different categories can apply to people of all ages and may provide useful insights into the type of play you prefer and even point you toward new play activities to try.

6 Stages of Play

Unoccupied Play

For anyone who has spent any time around a baby, you have probably seen this even if you didn’t realize what it was.  This is the stage of play where infants wiggle, wobble, and move for seemingly no reason other than it’s fun.  What are they doing?  Well, they’re learning about their bodies, how they move, how to move them, and how all the parts work together.

Solitary Play

Your child now has command of their body’s movements, but isn’t quite interested in playing with others just yet.  This is the stage when infants and toddlers start interacting with the world around them.  Put a baby/toddler into a sandbox with other kids the same age and they will act as if the others aren’t event here and may even wander away from them.  It’s perfectly normal and healthy for your young toddler to not play with others.  Instead, they are learning to use their senses to explore their world.

Spectator Play

At this stage, your child will start to take notice of other kids’ activities and will watch them play.  Here, they are only observing but they are still learning valuable information about social interactions, so don’t push them to join in too soon.  This stage, though short, is an important one as it gives them the basic tools for the next stage.

Parallel Play

This is when your toddler starts to play alongside others, but not with others.  Now when you put them in the sandbox with other kids, they won’t walk off because they’re more interested in the grass by the swing, but will instead play in the sand on their own.

Associative Play

Your toddler is getting older now and wants to join in on the fun even if they don’t quite know how to play with others just yet.  At this stage, kids will often play together with the same toys or in the same area but not necessary the same game.  A prime example is when multiple kids use the same jungle gym at the park.  They’ll laugh and giggle and interact, but won’t actually play the same game at the same time.

Cooperative Play

All of the other stages have built up to this – the final stage of play development.  Now kids come together, focused on each other and the same activity, in cooperative play.  Here you will see the beginnings of negotiation and cooperation as kids play in a group rather than as individuals.