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4.19: Play

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    204802
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    Two young boys are crouching facing each other. They are playing by reaching into the water of a small pond.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\). Which type of play are these two boys engaging in? Image source.

    Freud saw play as a means for children to release pent-up emotions and to deal with emotionally distressing situations in a more secure environment. Vygotsky and Piaget saw play as a way of children developing their intellectual abilities (Dyer & Moneta, 2006). All three theorists saw play as providing positive outcomes for children. Parten (1932) observed two- to five-year-old children and noted six types of play: Three labeled as non-social play (unoccupied, solitary, and onlooker) and three categorized as social play (parallel, associative, and cooperative). Table \(\PageIndex{1}\) describes each type of play. Younger children engage in non-social play more than those older; by age five associative and cooperative play are the most common forms of play (Dyer & Moneta, 2006).

    Table \(\PageIndex{1}\). Parten's Classification of Types of Play in Preschool Children.
    Category Description
    Unoccupied Play Children's behavior seems more random and without a specific goal. This is the least common form of play.
    Solitary Play Children play by themselves, do not interact with others, nor are they engaging in similar activities as the children around them.
    Onlooker Play Children are observing other children playing. They may comment on the activities and even make suggestions but will not directly join the play.
    Parallel Play Children play alongside each other, using similar toys, but do not directly act with each other.
    Associative Play Children will interact with each other and share toys but are not working toward a common goal.
    Cooperative Play Children are interacting to achieve a common goal. Children may take on different tasks to reach that goal.
    Note \(\PageIndex{1}\): Imaginary Companions

    An intriguing occurrence in early childhood is the emergence of imaginary companions. Researchers differ in how they define what qualifies as an imaginary companion. Some studies include only invisible characters that the child refers to in conversation or plays with for an extended period of time. Other researchers also include objects that the child personifies, such as a stuffed toy or doll, or characters the child impersonates every day. Estimates of the number of children who have imaginary companions varies greatly (from as little as 6% to as high as 65%), depending on what is included in the definition (Gleason et al., 2000).

    A young girl sits on a rock in a meadow, with a teddy bear sitting on the rock beside her.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\). Imaginary companion. Image source.

    Little is known about why children create imaginary companions, and more than half of all companions have no obvious trigger in the child's life (Masih, 1978). Imaginary companions are sometimes based on real people, characters from stories, or simply names the child has heard (Gleason, et. al., 2000). Imaginary companions often change over time. In their study, Gleason et al. (2000) found that 40% of the imaginary companions of the children they studied changed, such as developing superpowers, switching age or gender, or even dying, and 68% of the characteristics of the companion were acquired over time. This could reflect greater complexity in the child's "creation" over time and/or a greater willingness to talk about their imaginary playmates.

    In addition, research suggests that contrary to the assumption that children with imaginary companions are compensating for poor social skills, several studies have found that these children are very sociable (Mauro, 1991; Singer & Singer, 1990; Gleason, 2002). However, studies have reported that children with imaginary companions are more likely to be first-borns or only-children (Masih, 1978; Gleason et al., 2000, Gleason, 2002). Although not all research has found a link between birth order and the incidence of imaginary playmates (Manosevitz et al., 1973). Moreover, some studies have found little or no difference in the presence of imaginary companions and parental divorce (Gleason et al., 2000), number of people in the home, or the amount of time children are spending with real playmates (Masih, 1978; Gleason & Hohmann, 2006).

    Do children treat real friends differently? The answer appears to be not really. Young children view their relationship with their imaginary companion to be as supportive and nurturing as with their real friends. Gleason has suggested that this might suggest that children form a schema of what is a friend and use this same schema in their interactions with both types of friends (Gleason, et al., 2000; Gleason, 2002; Gleason & Hohmann, 2006).

    Children and the Media

    A young child sits in front of a television, watching a cartoon program.
    Figure \(\PageIndex{3}\). Child watching television. Image source.

    Children view far more television today than in the 1960s; so much that they have been referred to as Generation M for Media. Almost all American families have at least one TV set, and half own three or more (Nielsen Company, 2009). For children age six and under, two-thirds watch television every day, usually for two hours (Rideout & Hamel, 2006). Even when involved in other activities, such as playing, there is often a television on nearby (Christakis, 2009; Kirkorian et al., 2009). Research has consistently shown that too much television adversely affects children's behavior, health, and achievement (Gentile & Walsh, 2002; Robinson et al., 2001). Young children are less able to focus on active, hands-on play while the television is on, and background TV can negatively affect cognitive and language development as well as be linked to attention problems later in childhood (Schmidt et al., 2008; Courage et al., 2010).

    An additional concern is the amount of screen time children are getting with smart mobile devices. While most parents believe that their young children use mobile devices for a variety of activities, the children report that they typically use them to play games (Chiong & Schuler, 2010). Studies have reported that young children who have two or more hours per day using mobile devices show more externalizing behaviors (aggression, tantrums) and inattention (Tamana, et al., 2019), shorter sleep durations and a higher risk of behavioral problems (Wu, 2017), and fail to meet developmental milestones in fine and gross motor skills, language, and problem-solving (Madigan et al., 2019).

    Based on research findings, the AAP (2016) suggests that prior to the age of two, children should be engaged in hands-on exploration and social interaction with the real world, rather than the virtual one. The immaturity of the cognitive functions in infants and toddlers make it difficult for them to learn from digital media as effectively as they can from caregivers. For instance, it is often not until 24 months of age that children can learn new words from live-video chatting (Kirkorian et al., 2016). Between the ages of 2 and 5 the AAP (2016) suggests that children should be limited to no more than one hour per day of high-quality programs that are co-viewed with a caregiver to help children to understand what they are viewing. The AAP also strongly suggest that parents should avoid using mobile media to soothe their children. The concern is that using media as a strategy to distract or soothe the child may make it difficult for parents to limit the child's use of the devices and may inhibit children's ability to self-regulate their own emotions.


    This page titled 4.19: Play is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Martha Lally and Suzanne Valentine-French via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.