About Parallel Play

Parallel play refers to a developmental stage of play and social activity identified by researcher Mildred Parten Newhall in 1932. During parallel play, young children play independently alongside peers with little or no interaction. They may play with the same materials in similar ways, but there is limited interaction and rare cooperation.

Picture 3 year-olds standing on opposite sides of a water play table splishing and splashing independently, with the occasional swapping of spoons or gleeful chatter. Or picture those same children sitting near each other engaged in building block towers, dressing dolls, or painting.

Preschool children of all ages engage in parallel play, particularly when using sand, water, blocks, and art materials; this type of play appears to serve as a bridge to more complex cooperative activities.

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Parallel play falls at the midpoint of Parten’s six stages of play, after Unoccupied Play, Solitary Play, and Onlooker Play and before Associative Play and Cooperative play. You’ll find a handout explaining all six stages here.

Parten asserted that children progressed through the stages in a liner fashion (parallel play generally occurring between three-and-a-half and four years old). The consensus now seems to be that her age rangers were off and that individuals move through the stages in a more fluid way. For example, the other night my wife and I found ourselves on the couch sipping beverages and reading our kindles–it sure seemed to meet the definition of parallel play.

Reference

• Parten, Mildred B. “Social Participation among Preschool Children.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 27 (1932):243-269.

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