MILDRED PARTENS THEORY OF PLAY

MILDRED PARTENS THEORY OF PLAY

BIO

• American Psychologist
• Born May 18, 1932
• Died January 29, 2001
• Theory is a social theory.

TERMs

• Unoccupied (play)- when the child is not playing just observing.
• Solitary (play)- when child is alone and maintains focus on its activity.
• Onlooker(play)-when child watches others play but doesn't engage

TERMS

• Parallel play-when the child plays separate from others but close enough to mimic their actions.
• Associative play-when the child is interested in the people playing but not the activity.
• Cooperative play-when a child is interested in the people playing and the activity.

Idea of Theory

According to Parten as children become older, improving their communication skills, and as opportunities for peer interaction became more common, the non social types(solitary and parallel) types of play become less common. And the social(associative and cooperative) types of play become more common.

How it helps today
Modern scholars agree that Partens theory has contributed substantially to our understating of play, and while alternative classification schemes have been proposed, Parten's stages of play are still widely used. However, there is disagreement on whether there is indeed a sequence of play stages that children go through- for example, whether toddlers are really unable to play cooperatively, and whether solitary play in order children is less common or a sign of immaturity. Alternative explanations suggest that types of play may be influenced by other circumstances(such as how well the children know on another.)