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Expert Q&A
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| By Harriet S. Worobey, M.A. Early Childhood Educator Director, the Nutritional Sciences Preschool | ||
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How do preschoolers develop socially?
Young children are usually quite sociable. Infants and toddlers are interested in and relate to other children, though not in the same ways that preschoolers do. The stages of sociable play were defined by Parten (1932) as progressing in the following order: unoccupied activity, onlooker activity, solitary play, parallel play (playing next to other children with similar materials), associative play (playing with each other with the same materials), and finally cooperative or organized supplementary play (playing a game, building a castle; children take different responsibilities and/or roles within the group).
Most preschoolers start school in any of the first three stages. Many 3-year-olds progress quickly to parallel play. By the end of the 3-year-old school year, most children are either in parallel play or associative play. Four-year-olds progress from associative play to cooperative play. That doesn't mean that each child is ready to jump into organized play at the beginning of each day. Many children are slow to warm up and need time to adjust each day. When you bring a child into a new social situation, you should expect them to need some adjustment time as well. Setting up parallel activities for two children meeting for the first time gives them time to observe and get to know each other before jumping into a more organized play activity.
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