Areas of Development, Social Development and Play

One process, not five

Child development is usually taught as a set of separate areas, and the areas are genuinely useful. They give you words for saying exactly what you have noticed instead of saying that a child is doing well. But the areas are a way of LOOKING at development rather than five separate things going on inside a child, and treating them as separate is the commonest reason answers in this topic stay shallow. A three-year-old kneeling on the floor with two other children and a box of bricks is doing all of it at once. She is using her hands and balancing her body. She is working out which brick will hold the weight. She is asking for the one she wants and being refused. She is deciding whether to give way or hold on, and managing how she feels when the tower falls. Physical, intellectual, communication, social and emotional development are not taking turns in that scene; they are the same ten minutes described five ways. That is why play matters so much here, and it is why this module is built around it. What follows covers what actually influences development, how social skills are learned, and the stages children pass through on the way from playing beside other children to playing with them. The physical milestones themselves are a separate topic with a module of its own.

Five words used precisely

The first names the five areas so you have them once; the rest are the words this module actually works with.

What is happening in each?

Which stage is this?

Two four-year-olds sit at the same tray of water, each filling their own containers. They glance at each other now and then and occasionally copy what the other has done, but they do not speak or share. What is happening?

• Parallel play, which is a stage in its own right rather than a failure to play together
• Solitary play, because they are not playing together
• Co-operative play, because they are doing the same activity
• A delay, since children of four should be playing together by now

Beside, and with

The move from playing alongside other children to playing with them is the largest single change in early social development. It is worth seeing exactly what gets added.

The stages of play

Five stages of play. Put them in the order children usually pass through them.

• Solitary: playing alone, taking no notice of other children
• Looking on: watching other children play without joining in
• Parallel: playing alongside other children but not with them
• Joining in: playing with others, sharing materials, with no agreed roles
• Co-operative: playing together with agreed roles or rules

What a co-operative game needs

Four children want to play a game with agreed roles. Which THREE social skills does that actually require?

• Taking turns, including waiting while somebody else has theirs
• Following a rule that somebody else suggested
• Settling a disagreement without the game stopping
• Playing quietly
• Being good enough at the game to win it

A stage is an order, not a standard

The stages of play describe the ORDER children move through, and they are constantly misread as a timetable that children are supposed to keep up with. Two things follow from taking that seriously, and both of them come up in exam answers. First, a child playing alone is not behind. Solitary and parallel play are stages rather than problems, children move through them at different speeds, and a child who is tired, new to a group, unwell or simply absorbed will play alone on a given afternoon whatever they are capable of. What you see once is a snapshot, not a level. Second, and this matters more, the same behaviour can have completely different causes, so watching has to come before labelling. A child playing alone might be exactly where you would expect; might be watching first because the group is unfamiliar; or might be alone because the others have shut her out. The first two are development. The third is not, and treating it as a stage would leave a child on her own while an adult wrote down that she was progressing normally. The response to exclusion is about the group and the adults, not about her development at all. So in any observation question, describe what you actually saw, say what it could mean, and only then say what would help. Answers that go straight from one observation to a conclusion about a child are the ones that lose marks, and in real settings they are the ones that miss something.

Complete the development sentences

Playing alongside another child without playing with them is called _____. Playing together with agreed roles or rules is _____. Surroundings where a child is safe, noticed and encouraged are _____. Letting a child do what they can do for themselves, even when an adult could do it faster, is _____.

One afternoon, five ways

Here is a single scene, described once and then read five ways, which is the habit this topic is really testing. Three children aged about four are running a pretend shop. One has decided she is the shopkeeper, and after some argument the others have accepted it. They are using bricks as goods and leaves as money. Read it socially and you see roles agreed in advance and a disagreement settled without the game ending, which is co-operative play. Read it physically and you see hands picking up small objects and placing them precisely, and bodies moving around each other in a small space without collisions. Read it intellectually and you see one thing standing for another, leaves counted out and handed over, and a sequence of steps held in mind from asking to paying. Read it in terms of communication and you see requests, refusals, explanations of a rule and a negotiation that got somebody to change their mind. Read it emotionally and you see a child who wanted to be the shopkeeper and was not, staying in the game anyway. That is five areas in one afternoon and one activity. Notice that nothing was added between the readings. The scene did not change; only the question asked of it did, and that is what is meant by saying the areas are a way of looking.

Find the observation that judges

Five lines from an observation of a child at play. Tap the ONE that draws a conclusion instead of recording what was seen.

• She spent most of the session at the water tray, filling and emptying the same two containers.
• She looked up several times when the children at the next table laughed.
• She is behind the others socially and needs to be encouraged to join in more.
• When another child took a container, she waited and then picked up a different one.
• She spoke twice, both times to the adult rather than to another child.

Write the observation

A strong answer describes, then interprets, then suggests. Choose the option in each gap.

The development run

Five quick questions on areas, social development and play. Three lives.

Four children and a wet afternoon

You are on placement in an early-years room. A group of four-year-olds is playing, and you have been asked to observe and then say what would help. Work through three decisions.

• One child has been at the sand tray on her own for twenty minutes. What do you record?
• You notice she went towards the group game twice and came back both times. What does that change?
• You find the group turned her away both times. What would help?

Explain what play shows

A parent says that their four-year-old only ever plays next to other children and never with them, and asks whether something is wrong. Write a reply explaining what is happening and what would actually be useful.

• Explain what parallel play is and why it is a stage rather than a problem
• Name the stages that come before and after it, and say what each one adds
• Explain why the areas of development cannot be separated, using play as your example
• Say why one observation is not enough to draw a conclusion from
• Finish with what would genuinely help, including one thing that would need checking first