PsyBlog: 6 Types of Play: How We Learn to Work Together

This PsyBlog article discussed a rather simple topic.  I was surprised that this was even Psychology.  It talked about how we learn how to play and the importance of play time.  It helps us develop our social skills by developing a sense of self, learning how to interact with other children, learning how to make friends, and learning how to lie and role-play.  For this study, children between the ages of 2 and 5 were observed and their play was categorized into 6 types.  Unoccupied play, that seems to have no apparent purpose, solitary play, when they play with themselves and don't seem to notice others, onlooker play, which is when they look at other children playing, but don't join in, parallel play, which is when the child mimics others activities, but don't join in, associative play, where they play with others rather than toys, and cooperative play, where there is organization while children play together.  What came out of this was that as children get older, their play time develops and they lean how to play more with others.  So, learning to play is learning how to interact with others.