The Development of Play Types During Preschool

Peer relations among children is one of the most important sources of emotional and social learning a child can be exposed to. For example, peer relations develop and improve conversation skills, create innovative methods of play in which more than one child is involved; and cooperation becomes not only a necessity, but a desire. Each of these developments results from peer play, which changes in dynamic as the child ages.

The first significant changes in play types and sociability are during the preschool years, ages 2 - 5 years old. Initially, as those familiar with children can attest to, children begin with a stage called nonsocial activity. As the name suggests, this form of play involves no social contact. Instead, the child plays independently; which may mean the child is playing with toys alone or is observing others play. This is often seen in babies. Many parents put them on a blanket for playtime, and when the parent interacts with the child, they don't try to play back as a four year old would, but watch the parent play with the toy instead. This is a perfect example of nonsocial activity.

Before anything further is discussed, it is important to note that the following playtimes do not replace each other, but rather develop and co-exist. You'll even notice that infants can and do engage in some of the latter forms of play. For example, parallel play, which is a form of play in which children play next to one another, but pay little to no attention to what the other child is doing, can be seen in children from infancy on. In fact, both nonsocial and parallel play are major forms of play for children well into kindergarten.

Lastly, associative play and cooperative play blossom, and these two types of play come to a peak during preschool years, especially the later preschool years. Associative play is when the children engage in the same activity, but unlike parallel play, they engage in simple conversation, make comments, and even share toys. Think of playing with a four year old, you both have dolls and the four year old comments on how pretty yours is, and how you're styling her hair very beautifully. The child is engaging in conversation with you about your play. You then exchange dolls with her and she begins to play with the new doll. This illustrates the exchanging of, or sharing of, toys that also blossoms with associative play.

Associative play's partner, cooperative play, is when children play together. This is seen more frequently in the later years of preschool, and involves children playing games together or playing make believe. As an example, schoolyard children like to engage in games of "house," "cops and robbers," "doctors," and the like. Furthermore, children of this age will engage in putting puzzles together with each other and playing age-appropriate games.

Once again, it is important to emphasis that although these play types (in the order in which they are described here) become more common as a child ages, these often exist early on and that a child may jump from one form of play to the next, even as a one year old. However, cognitively, the type of play changes. Up to about year two, children generally stick to play that is referred to as functional. This means that the play is simple, such as repetitive movements or activity. Think of a one or two year's play time, what exactly do they do? Usually you can find them running around the house, hitting blocks together, vrooooming a car in a line, or something similar. These sorts of play can be done alone, with other children, or with parents, but up until the age of two it is kept within these "functional" guidelines. This is with the exception of make believe play, which also begins at the age of two and embellishes as the child ages. Early on make believe play is simple, but as the child ages, topics become more sophisticated, as do the actions. Some children are so thorough in playing doctor they even want to look into your mouth and ears to make sure you're healthy. This sort of play generally goes on into kindergarten and beyond.

At the age of three children develop cognitively to include a new sort of play referred to as constructive. Constructive play is just what it sounds like, play in which something is created or put together. This is why coloring, Play-doh, and large Legos are such popular pastimes for children of 3 and up years of age.

References:

Berk, L. (2007). Development through the Lifespan, 4^th Ed. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Fromberg, D. P. & Bergin, D. (1998). Play from Birth to Twelve and Beyond: Contexts, Perspectives, and Meanings. Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group.