Child Development: Social Development

Between 1-5 years, children show gradual development from simple to more complicated forms of social play. Most children pass through the following stages as they leaning to play together in groups.

Solitary play:

– playing alone

-e.g. drawing alone

Parallel play

- playing alongside others but not with them.

-E.g. one child drawing and the other playing with a doll.

Looking-on-play

- watching from the edge of the groups as the other children play

-e.g. watching a group of children playing a board game

Joining-in-play

- playing with others by doing the same thing as everyone else

-e.g. playing with dolls or running around together

Co-operative play

belonging to a group and sharing in the same task

e.g. a board game