For little children, they see the world through play. Experts would refer to play as the work of children. Play allows the child to discover and to experiment the world around him. Moreover, play has several benefits. One, it builds the child imagination. Two, it promotes social skills. Three, it develops the child's learning and development. Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky, a Soviet psychologist and the founder of cultural-historical psychology, believes that play has a major part in the child's development. From his studies, a child develops abstract meaning separate from the objects in the world. At pee-school age, a piece of wood begins to perform the role of a doll, and a stick becomes a horse.
As children grow and develop, children go through distinct stages of play. It is important that when planning activities for kids, consider how play affects their learning and development. In 1932, Mildred Parten developed the stages of play, each stage is described by Helene Goldnadel below.
Unoccupied Play
This is the stage when the child is not engaged in playing and just observing. A child can be simply standing in one spot observing his surroundings.
Solitary
It is also referred to as independent play. In this stage, the child separates himself from others with no reference to what others are engaged to. Experts believe that children at this stage are simply not interested in playing with others because they are ego-centric. Ego-centric is where a person is not able to see a point through another person's perspective. In return, the child individually plays with his toys. Moreover, children between the ages of one and two are very much engrossed with the world around him. During play time, parents will notice a lot of banging, noise-making and imitating.
Spectator
This is the stage when the child is about two and a half year. The child begins to be on a lookout for people around him. A child may show interest on what other children are playing, however the child doesn't want to join in. A parent will know that the child is in this stage if the child shows interest by pointing or squealing at what others are doing.
Parallel
This stage normally occurs when the child is between two and a half and three years of age. The child may see another child playing and would sit down and play next to him. They are contented to play side by side even without interaction. The reason behind this behavior is that children at this age do not possess yet the skills necessary for playing together. The term cooperation is yet to be learned.
Associative Play
This stage occurs between the ages of three and four and this is the first category that children engage in strong social interaction during play. Furthermore, the child will start to see the benefit of playing with another child.
Cooperative Play
When the child reaches four years of age, he is ready to learn to play cooperatively with other kids. Usually, the play is structured and there is a one clear leader in the group. At times, conflict can arise and it can be easily resolved with less disruptive play. Also, in this stage, children interact and work together toward a common goal.
Modern scholars believe that Parten's stages of play has greatly contributed to our understanding of play. It is widely used by parents and child psychology experts to understand children's development. By and large, play therapy is employed in children ages 3 to 11.
Play provides an opportunity for children to express their feelings, emotions and experiences through a natural, self-guided process. Encouraging play is very important because it helps children to communicate. It thus becomes a vital medium for children to recognize and acknowledge themselves and others.
