What is Onlooker Play, Age, Benefits, Examples, and How to Encourage it?
Your child is watching the other kids play.They seem to be just looking on.
Wrong.Onlooker play is an important stage in a child's development.It is serious business and not just child's play.
The play was divided into six stages.Your child's cognitive and social skills are developed at each of these stages.Even when they are just watching, it happens.
The stages of play were defined by the cognitive development of the child.Parten saw things differently.She said that learning to play is about learning how to relate to others.
Don't hold a stopwatch because we are not all programmed to run on the same timetable.When your toddler is between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years of age, you can expect onlooker play to begin.
If you see your child standing on the edge, watching the other kids play, don't cry.Your toddler has reached a milestone.When your child wasn't aware that there were other kids in the room, remember those previous play dates.
A big part of a child's development is onlooker play.When your child is just watching, they are busy working on cognitive and social-emotional skills.
Observation improves perception, attention, memory, and thinking.Kids are laying the groundwork for the more complex symbols that they will learn in school by noticing how gestures and words are used.
Albert Bandura, hailed as the father of the cognitive theory, showed that kids learn how to behave from observing others in his famous Bobo doll experiments.It is a one-way street.
Do you need more convincing?Lev Vygotsky says that observation improves the natural state of behavior of the child and alters completely anew the whole course of his development.
A toddler likes to watch other children play.They are more interested in watching from the sidelines than in participating.The onlooker stage has what you will notice.
We want to help our kids reach their goals.It hurts when you see your child on the sidelines, even if you know that this stage will soon pass.What can you do to get the onlookers to follow you?There are some great ideas.
When your toddler reaches 3 1/2 to 4 years of age, they will probably move on to the next stage of development called parallel play.At this point, you will see your child playing with other kids, but not together.Kids will probably share their resources, but they won't have a common goal.
Your child and their friend are playing with blocks, but they will each build their own tower.If they start to argue over the blocks, stay on hand.The kids might have fun with your costume box, but they won't assign roles.
When you notice that your child hasn't moved on to the onlooker play stage, what happens?Maybe they don't show any interest in what the other kids are doing because they're fully engaged in the solitary play stage.
It happens.The age ranges of the play stages are guidelines.Some kids are slower to warm up.The kids may be shy or cautious.
A child may slip back to the onlooker stage even though they have mastered parallel or associative play.That is perfectly normal.There are days when you are perfectly happy to sit back and watch the world.
Your child is getting older.The onlooker play has evolved into parallel and associative play as their cognitive, communication, and social-emotional skills come together.They will be asking for the car keys soon.
Your baby begins to play independently during sliotary play.What you can expect will be covered when this stage begins.
When your child plays with another child, they don't interact.It is an important step in your child's development.
When are kids supposed to play?When it begins, why it's important, and how to encourage it are some of the things you can learn about cooperative play.
Children learn about the world and themselves through imaginative play.If you aren't supporting their development, what can you do?