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Parentpedia
Parallel Play
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Playing -- part of the joy of being a child -- is more than just fun and games. Play is the way that children explore, integrate, and master the world around them. According to noted developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, play is the work of childhood, and, as children develop, they progress from playing simple games of peek-a-boo to make- believe to complicated computer games.
At around the age of 3, you may notice your child demonstrating developmental behavior called parallel play.
At this stage, your child might seek out other children, only to plop down next to them to play by herself. This desire to play next to instead of with others is called "parallel play." Children at this age don't yet...
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Observing a small group of three year-olds sitting on the floor, playing with blocks is like watching a mystery unfold. At first it would seem to the casual observer that all of the little ones are participating in a grand construction project. They're using the same tools, they're sitting in the same place, they're building the same buildings, but each of them is all alone and loving every minute of it. There is no interactive planning, no talk about the big picture. Each structure isn't part of the greater whole, but is its own grand island. These little guys don't see anyone else's work as possibly being part of their own because they haven't made the discovery that they can be connected to everything around them if they choose to.
However, bring a four or five year old into the room and ask them what they see, and they'll give you the list of possibilities... it's an airport and they're a hangar for the airplanes, or it's a construction site and the builders are making houses, and so forth. A year later, just by playing, they've made the connections they need to go from parallel play to cooperative play.
However, bring a four or five year old into the room and ask them what they see, and they'll give you the list of possibilities... it's an airport and they're a hangar for the airplanes, or it's a construction site and the builders are making houses, and so forth. A year later, just by playing, they've made the connections they need to go from parallel play to cooperative play.
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