Children learn important skills through play. They learn academic and social skills and practice their gross and fine motor skills!
As your child grows they will go through stages of play. Each stage builds on what your child has learned in earlier stages.
- Unoccupied play begins at birth. During this stage, your baby is learning about controlling their own body, while watching the world around them.
- Solitary play starts during infancy and is common in toddlerhood. During this stage, your child plays by themself. This type of play lets your baby practice motor skills while preparing them to play with other children. As your child gets older, solitary play helps develop imagination and other skills.
- Onlooker play most frequently occurs with toddlers, but occurs throughout childhood. In this stage your baby watches others play, without joining. Onlooker play helps teach children social rules, and types of play and lets them see different toys.
- Parallel play is very common in toddlers, but occurs in all ages. Two children play next to each other during this stage, but not with each other. For example, both children have blocks but will not build them together. Though it appears they don’t notice the other children, they do, and parallel play helps prepare your child for playing with others.
- Associative play happens as early as age 2, but commonly around 3 and 4. In this stage, your child starts to notice others playing and they may begin interacting with each other, though they will not engage in organized play.
- Cooperative play starts around ages 3 and 4. Children play together in this stage. They may establish rules and have a group goal. It is common to see a lot of conflicts during this time as children begin to communicate and learn to play together.
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