There are researches done by Mildred Parten that define how children see the way they are playing. Parten states that playing is associated with the child’s social, emotional, intellectual, and physical growth. They need to play in order to fully develop and jumpstart their initial development in life.

Here are some of the stages of play that Mildred Parten discovered:

1. Solitary Play

When children are just 18 months old, they will most likely spend their time playing alone. They won’t even notice other children nor they will try to interact with them. Some of them will do activities such as grabbing, touching and watching the objects that they are playing with. They also tend to tune out the world and does not care if other children or adults are interested in what they are playing.

2. Physical Playing

This is where children start to enjoy playing games such as tag, jumping, running, and a lot of other physical activities that can develop their motor skills as well as their physical bodies. This is where they socialize with other kids, form plans, aim to win, and a lot more. Their bodies are starting to develop and constantly running or jumping around will make the muscles much stronger in the long run.

3. Cooperative Play

This is a stage where children learn some social rules in the playground. They tend to invite other children to their activities. They share laughter and fun with each other. Some children at the age of three or four learn to team up with other kids in order to win. There are give and take as well as cooperative situations in this social play. Children develop their values as well as they take care that they follow some of the rules that were put in place.

4. Constructive Playing

Some children in the playground learn how to build sandcastles. Others want to play more with bricks and LEGO in order to build something. This constructive play is usually present in toddlers. They stack toys, draw something on paper, and gather loose pinecones or other things that strike their fancy. They also learn to identify different colors of objects around them and they start to build a pattern in order to construct something. This is a kind of a problem-solving phase where children develop the skills that they need in order to start working with concepts and numbers.

5. Dramatic Play

This is a kind of fantasy play where children learn to think in abstract ways. They might want to emulate their favorite superheroes that they see on television. These plays awaken children’s wide imagination. They can reenact certain situations that they saw on the internet, express emotions that are like that of their superheroes, as well as experiment with other types of languages. In fantasy play, the children are able to dress like their favorite superheroes and they tend to follow the values of that particular hero figure that they see on tv. This is where parental guidance can be of value.