Parallel play

An observer will notice that the children occasionally see what the others are doing and then modify their play accordingly. The older the children are, the less frequently they engage in this type of play. However, even older preschool children engage in parallel play, an enduring and frequent activity over the preschool years. The image of parallel play is two children playing side by side in a sandbox, each absorbed in their own game, not interacting with the other. "This is considered an early stage in child development, characterized by egocentric behavior and the inability to decenter and coordinate with the activities of a 'playmate'".

In education, parallel play also describes activities where students are divided into pairs or small groups and work on the same activity simultaneously. This gives all students equal opportunity for active involvement and reduces exposure – since all students are playing, none are watching. This stage ends when a child develops the ability to engage in interactive play behavior and symbolic communication.

Parallel play in adults is under-researched; RMIT University psychology lecturer Dr James Collett has suggested this may be because of cultural stereotypes that adults should be autonomous and self-sufficient, and because 'spending time together' in adult social and romantic relationships is idealised narrowly in terms of mutual attention and interaction.

Independent coworking, also called body doubling, is the work equivalent of parallel play. For adults, parallel play can also be a peaceful and low-pressure way to socialise; between family members and romantic partners it can indicate a healthy form of attachment.

Autistic people often engage in parallel play into adulthood, with other autistic people, caregivers and others. Relatedly, body doubling has been popularised as an adaptive productivity strategy for people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

History

Mildred Parten was one of the first to study peer sociability among 2 to 5-year-olds in 1932. Parten noticed a dramatic rise of interactive play with age and concluded that social development includes three stages. Parallel play is the first of three stages of play observed in young children. The other two stages include simple social play (playing and sharing together), and finally cooperative play (different complementary roles; shared purpose). The research by Parten indicated that preschool children prefer groups of two, parallel play was less likely with age, a majority of the kids chose playmates of the same sex, and that the most common parallel play activities were sand play along with constructive work. Other findings in her study showed that I.Q. level had little impact, siblings preferred to play with each other, home environment was a big factor, and playing house was the most common form of social play among children. Research indicates that these forms of play emerge in the order suggested by Parten, but they do not form a developmental sequence in which later-appearing ones replace earlier ones. All types coexist during the preschool years. Vygotsky believed that play during childhood created a zone of proximal development of the child and guided in intellectual development. Socioeconomic status appeared to only impact associative play, where British children who were used in the study of low socioeconomic status preferred that type of play. This could be explained due to the fact that those kids had fewer toys and more siblings to share toys with.