Early Childhood Care and Education Module 11

TYPES OF PLAY AND ITS VALUES - PART - I

1. Introduction
Play is an important work in early childhood. It is important to learn about how the
power of play can help children imbibe important skills and prepare them to face
the competent world. While play is often seen as something frivolous that
children do to pass the time, play is an incredibly important part of a child’s
healthy development. Play is child’s work. Through play, children learn academic
skills like effective communication, conflict resolution, problem solving and
cooperation. May be most importantly, they learn about themselves – they get to
know their personalities including their likes and dislikes, strengths and interests.
Through play, children learn where they fit in the world. Realizing the importance
of play, it becomes essential to know the various types of play, its characteristics
and importance. Hence, this modules on types of play and its value would
attempt to elaborate Parten’s theory of play.

2. Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module you will be able to
 Learn about the types of play as per Parten’s theory
 Understand the characteristics and importance of each type of play
 Identify activities fostering each type of play

3. Parten’s theory on Play

Play is of different forms especially in case of younger children, no child is seen sitting
still they will be always engaged in any sort of play. One of the early researchers named
Mildred Parten (1932) studied children at play and stated that play is not hierarchical,
but depends on the situation/circumstances a child may engage in any kind of play. He
has identified six stages of play that children progress through. Its important to note that
each child develops at his or her own pace, so children of the same age may not show
exactly the same types of play. Parten has classified the participation of children during

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free play by observing children of age two to five. There are six stages in Parten’s
theory:

3.1 Unoccupied play

3.2 Solitary play
3.3 Onlooker play
3.4 Parallel play
3.5 Associative play
3.6 Cooperative play

3.1 Unoccupied play:

The child is busily engaged in unoccupied play from birth to three years of age. It is also
called as free spontaneous play. According to Parten, it is an act that keeps the child
engaged during infancy. It is an unorganized sort of play which helps the child to
explore the surrounding. Children are relatively still and their play appears scattered.
Unoccupied play helps the child to manipulate materials, master self-control and learn
about the things around him. There are no rules and regulations. Unoccupied play looks
like babies or young children exploring materials around them without any sort of
organization. It is mostly demonstrated by infants who try to explore themselves around
their new surroundings. The child explores the world through complete free thinking,
movements and imagination. The baby plays alone and as long as he wants. He gets
enjoyment by exercising his sense organs and this play is exploratory in nature.

For example: If an object which is colorful and smooth is kept near the child, he/she
grabs, kicks, and crawl around with it until an adult distracts the child through a
surprising sound or physical contact. Idle observations and aimless movement of the
body are examples of unoccupied behaviour.

Activities for unoccupied play:

Here there is no need of any special equipment or play material, what matters is the
environment of the child. Child just uses their sense organs to play. Other than the

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sense organ the child only needs the presence of the adult as a supporting agent for the
play.

3.2 Solitary play:

This is one of the first type of play seen in younger children who are around two to three
years. In this, children are unaware of what others are doing and they are not interested
in others tasks. It is an independent play by the child himself. They play alone and
continuously focusing only on their own activity thereby entertaining themselves without
any social involvement. They may not notice or acknowledge other children. This is the
time period when the child explores the world around them and discovers new situations
they are introduced to. Adults sometimes might worry about children playing alone, but
actually this kind of play is very normal. Solitary play helps the child to use their
imagination and develop physical and mental skills, thereby mastering new personal
skills. During this stage a child will be able to explore, create and learn as to how things
are working. They start using their imagination and apply rules while playing. It is said to
be the preparatory period for children before playing with others. Children at this play
are not expected to achieve any goal. Children often talk to themselves at the time of
solitary play.

There are two types of solitary play namely

 Active play and

 solitary imaginative play

Solitary active play includes make believe play. It is considered to be the bridge
between solitary play and social play. This play includes repeated simple movements
with or without a toy.

For example: A child playing on a beach filling sand into the bucket and undoing it
repeatedly for a long period of time.

Activities for solitary active play: Certain toys that can keep the child engaged such
as blocks, electronic cars, bouncing balls, manual toy cars or bicycles etc which allow
the child to release their energy and keep them busy for certain time.

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Solitary imaginative play is playing using a little bit of imagination which strengthens the
child’s mental ability. It even helps develop their abstract thinking, language and
creativity. Children imagine situations and make up stories with their toys.

For example: Rite has a blanket and molded toys to play. Using her imagination she
assumes the blanket to be her mansion, and the toys to be her friends and serpents in
which Rita takes the lead role that is of a princess. She goes around giving
commands/orders regarding the tasks which she imagines to be done by one of the
dolls.

Activities for solitary imaginative play: For this an adult need not provide many toys
or any other items. The child will usually make use of the materials that are usually
available at home or in their environment and use them as their toys based on their
imagination. The child in addition also uses all the toys which she/he has already been
using and creates another new world of their own.

3.3 Onlooker play: This kind of play is also known as spectator play. The child just
observes what and how others are playing without disturbing them or joining with them.
A child learns a lot by watching other children play and that forms the active part of this
kind of play. Onlookers are mostly children between two and two and half years.
Children involved in such kind of play are found observing another child or group of
children in a play activity. Though no direct involvement in the play is initiated by an
onlooker, the child is found somewhere very near to the play activity of others.
Sometimes it is easy to think that children engaged in onlooker play might be lonely or
scared to engage with other children but it actually is a very normal part of play
development. Just as adults watch others, children too learn a lot by watching others.
The onlookers observe, try to communicate, give suggestions, clarify their doubts and
even show certain other forms of social interaction. Through onlooker play a child
acquires self-knowledge, practices interaction and learns how to play with others and
also grasp the social rules of play and how to form relationships. This play helps them to
understand as to how to engage with others physically, mentally, emotionally and
socially during play. They also learn how to use materials for play and understand about

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the world in general. Onlooker play can be encouraged by showing children daily
activities or by allowing them to observe children elder to them playing.

For example: Tim, a two and a half year old new child just admitted in a play school sits
with Ranua four year old who is playing with blocks. Here Tim does not play along with
Ranu but he just observes what Ranu is doing with the blocks its shapes, texture and
forms. After a few minutes Tim suggests a block appropriate to his imagination to Ranu
to fit into his building blocks. Ranu being the eldest approves the suggestion and keeps
the block which satisfies Tim. Here Tim is developing socialization.

Activities for onlooker play:

The most positive way of encouraging children to play is by letting them see other
children playing and enjoying a game. As for a toddler it is best to see their elder
siblings play or children in the neighborhood gather and play. When it comes to
childhood, children can be sent to a nursery or kindergarten where they get to see more
children and generate an interest in playing more games. A pre – school child enjoys
games by watching their role models playing. It can be the father, elder sibling or other
children too.

3.4 Parallel play: It is the first step toward social interactive play. This kind of play
occurs when children play next to each other, but are not really interacting together.
Though children seem to be in a group, they play on their own. They are still egocentric
in nature. In other words even while seated next to each other they do not interact
among themselves. Parallel play is seen in children between the age group of two and
three. In this play even if the child plays the same or a different game, they like to be
seated along with children of the same age group. They seem to possess a don’t care
attitude of what others play but they do react when removed from the group. They are
not really engaged in a social exchange. Children start separating toys as “my toys” and
“their toys”. They watch and listen to each other which isthe initial stage of socialization.
Parallel play is a bridge to more cooperative play. It is like a warm up exercise where
children work side by side on the same activity, practicing skills and learning new

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methods to engage together. It develops a child’s reasoning skills and leads to symbolic
play.

For example: Two children Meena and Rani seated face-to-face with same toys
(sticks). They both play with the same toys led by their imagination. Meena uses the
stick as a sword in her imagination whereas Rani uses the stick as a laddle to stir soup.
They both will be seated together but will be playing different games.

Activities for parallel play:

The equipments or toys used here will be common or and can be of any type. Only thing
is that the parent can bring a change in the environment or improvise the seating
arrangement of the child by making them sit with a child of the same age. Even though
the children do not interact with each other, they might feel comfortable to have the
other’s company. Also they get a chance to observe each other and the next day they
might exchange their ideas of play.

3.5 Associative play:

This type of play signifies a shift in the child. Even though children play individually; they
sit in a group and take turns with their toys, which means children play same activities at
the same time but it is not necessary to get along with each other. Instead of being
more focused on the activity or object involved in play, children begin to be more
interested in the other players. Associative play is seen in children above the age of
three. Children interact with each other by asking, borrowing, and sharing toys but not
playing with each other. As far as children are concerned communication is only
necessary for giving and taking their toys. But children develop a friendship with other
children and take preferences to play with. Associative play helps in developing
cooperation, reasoning skills and problem solving abilities. It makes children more
socialized and interactive. They start clarifying their doubts by asking as how, why and
what the task is for. They also practice what they have observed through onlooker and
parallel play. They also start using their newfound skills to engage with other children or
adults during an activity or exploration. During this stage the more matured child is
selected as a leader of the group.

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For example: Two to five children in a sand pit play together within their boundaries,
each one having their own tools to play. When they need something in extra they ask
for it and also share the tools without more communication or thanking each other.

Activities for associative play:

It is quite similar to parallel play but adult should not provide same toys for the children
they must have different toys, so that they can exchange or share the toys they are
using. This gives them an opportunity to interact with each other and develop social
skills.

3.6 Cooperative play:

It is an organized kind of play with a particular goal to be achieved. This type of play is
mostly seen in children around five years. It is categorized by cooperative efforts
between layers. Children play in a large group with principles and rules. In this kind of
play the leader plays a lead or active role. Cooperative play is seen in preschool
activities in the form of dramatized play, group formal games etc. In this kind of play
each child is assigned with particular tasks which has to be completed adhering to
certain rules which will help the group to reach a collective goal. Cooperative play
develops social skills in the children as they interact with each other. It also involves a
lot of conflict but it is quite normal. Conflicts usually arise because it is sometimes
difficult for young children to share, take turns and negotiate control in these types of
scenarios. This can be overcome if parents or elders can stay close by when they play
and help them learn healthy ways of expressing their emotions by teaching them
problem solving skills and strategies. Language develops rapidly in the children as they
start speaking and listening to each other during play. It is important to remember that
cooperation is an advanced skill and can be very difficult for young children.

There are different types of cooperative play:

3.6.1 Sharing: It does not literally have the exact meaning; as children do not take
initiative to share their things with other children in most of the situations. When an adult
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asks a child to share a toy with another child, he/she find it unbearable to give up the
things to someone. The easiest way to convince the child to share is to negotiate with
the child or distract him with something else which is more interesting and make the
child give-up on his toy by himself.

For example: Two children named Sunny and Raayn are colouring two different picture
using the same box of crayons. Raayn needed blue colour to paint sky in his picture, but
the same colour was being used by Sunny to colour a dress. In this situation an adult
can ask Sunny to colour top half of the dress with blue and the remaining half with
another colour citing the reason that the picture would be more beautiful. By convincing
Sunny, to use another colour, the situation results in Sunny sharing the blue colour
crayon to Raayn by himself.

3.6.2 Taking turns:

While playing in a group, children have to wait to get their turn. Mostly children tend to
get an immediate response when they want something which is not possible in
cooperative play. A child has to patiently wait to satisfy his pleasure to play till his time
comes, even if the child had to wait without completing the task. They should be taught
that they should never give up but wait patiently till their turn comes. In case they have
to give up it is better to teach them in a fun manner; may be some game can be
introduced in such a manner that the person who gives up will be the winner. It’s also
sometimes better to create a winning situation for both the parties.

For example: While playing with a ball if both the children refuse to share it then we
can make them play games such as ‘throw the ball’ or ‘passing the ball’, so that both the
children get their turn.

3.6.3 Obeying rules:

Children are very possessive and competitive by nature. While playing, everyone wants
to win in the game they play. So children tend to cheat a little bit in order to achieve their
goal, since the peers never accept such discrepancies, adults should create a set of
rules which have to be adhered to by the children to win the game. To avoid issues in

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cooperative games it’s better to teach children about the rules and regulations of the
game. This in turn also develops a good sportsmanship in the children and also teaches
them the tactics to end a game peacefully. Let the children learn that not all games are
meant to be won, its fine to loose in some games.

3.6.4 Negotiating:

It’s difficult for a child to accept or compromise to their desire on what they want since
children are the boss of their own life. While learning to negotiate, children learn to deal
with their emotions and develop empathy towards others. It is better to teach children to
negotiate with little things at home between siblings or parents before forcing them to
take initiative to negotiate with friends. Once a child learns to share, wait for turns,
negotiate and follow rules they will be ready for the future things of their life. It’s at this
stage that they learn to master important new social skills, such as sharing, taking turns,
obeying rules, and negotiating. These are all very difficult for a young child to learn.

Activities for cooperative play:

As the children are grown up now they can interact and follow the instructions. So
games such and word puzzle, running race, snake and ladder, lotto etc can be given
where the child is taught to wait for chances and play according to the rules.

4. Conclusion
Parten’s categories represent one way of thinking about the types of play. Her
categories emphasize the role of play in the child’s social world. Play is thus an exciting
and pleasurable activity because it satisfies the exploratory drive. During play children
practice their competencies and skills in a relaxed and pleasurable way. Play not
reflects a child’s cognitive development but also advances that development.