In your parenting adventures have you heard of the different levels of play? You may have heard the terms parallel, associative, and cooperative play tossed out there in discussions, parenting books or from us! In the toddler class we most often see what looks like children playing together but is actually children playing side by side. Associative and parallel play are the two modes of play most common with toddlers. You may see 3 or 4 children in the block area together but chances are that their interaction is fairly minimal. They may have a dispute over some materials but mostly they are just playing near each other. Toddlerhood is a very egocentric world!

Have you noticed the beginnings of cooperative play with your children? Have you seen Quinn get excited when Erikson enters the room? How about their mutual silly zooming around? Have you noticed Niya asking where June is? Have you seen Wren and Lausten choosing a book together? These signs of development may seem insignificant but they are HUGE in the toddler world!

An exciting excerpt from today:
Niya: William, let’s build a block tower!
They head over to the block area, take out several blocks and stack them in a single stack. They then take MANY blocks off the shelf without building.

Tired of that, they head over to the easel. While they paint on opposite sides of the easel, they occasionally pop over to the other side and say, “boo!” to each other.
Niya walks over to William’s side of the easel.
Niya: Do you want to build another tower?
William: Yes
Sarah: Use the blocks that you already have out!
William: Do you want to use those blocks?
Niya: No
They walk over to the block area, silently survey the large “mess” and turn toward the house area. They get food, dishes and a baby out and start cooking for the baby. All the while they are just chatting with each other about cooking and feeding their baby.

June decides to see what is happening. She watches them for a while and starts to move closer until she is standing right next to them at the stove/sink.Niya: You can’t play in the kitchen. (Protecting her new, fragile relationship with William. Completely developmentally appropriate and a topic for another time!)
Sarah: What can June do?
William: Nothing.
Niya: She can build a tower.
Sarah: She wants to play in the kitchen. What can she do?
Niya: Nothing. She can’t play in here.
Sarah: Yes, she can. Can she feed the baby? Cook some food?
Niya: She can hold the baby
Sarah: Tell June
Niya: June you can hold the baby.