Development P&F

Peer influences differ at different stages

• infancy and toddlerbood: limited influence/family/caregivers
• in childhood: main interaction is peers through play, still less important than family
• teenagers: growing peer influence

Free play is:

• enjoyable, engaging
• intrinsically motivates, free from external rules
• concerned with means not ends

Types of play

• play changes as the motor, social, cognitive and language skills of the child develops
• object play/sensorimotor play
• pretend play/sociodramatic play
• social pretend play
• rough and tumble play
• language play

Social participation in play

• Parten (1932) observed 2-4 year olds
• > unoccupied (no activity)
• > onlooker (watching but not joining in)
• > solitary (alone) 
• > parallel (side by side but little interaction
• > associative (share and swap toys but pursue own interest)
• > cooperative (make believe themes, reciprocal roles, shared goals

Cognitive changes in play

• parallel play (6-12 m) - two children do similar activities without paying attention to each other
• parallel aware play (1 year) - children engage in parallel play whilst…