Children’s play goes through many stages

Children’s play goes through many stages — and how toys are played with changes accordingly...

 

Babies experience the world through their senses and motor movements...

 

Two-year-olds engage in parallel play, playing independently alongside another child...  Their toys are very concrete representations of what they’re playing...

 

Pre-schoolers and junior infants play with other children... Socio-dramatic and role-play becomes important... They act out scenes — feeding/changing baby...

 

As children get older, play becomes more elaborate and abstract and toys can be symbolic representations — a car can stand in for a jeep...Cooperative play’s important with games like hide-and-seek...

 

Around age eight, rule-based games and complying with these rules become import ant, as does wish for competence in games... As children’s play develops, their capacity to socialize does too... “Developing the skill of taking turns, of waiting, are fundamental to building relationships"...

 

Older children use the word ‘pretend’ less when playing pretend games together... “There are huge negotiation skills and compromises involved... Communication becomes more implicit, more assumed — there’s shared pretending: ‘I’ll be the shopkeeper’ and it’s assumed you’ll be the customer...  There’s a shared meaning and a reliance on the non-verbal"... it’s very normal for them to be playing until they’re in secondary school.”...