SMILANSKY’S

FOUR STAGES OF
PLAY

PARTEN’S SIX
STAGES OF PLAY
 SMILANSKY’S
FOUR STAGES OF
PLAY
 FUNCTIONAL PLAY

-a form of play in which children use their senses

and muscles to experiment with materials and learn
how things go together. It satisfies children's need to
be active and to explore. Typically, in functional
play, children repeat their actions over and over
while talking to themselves about what they are
doing.
EXAMPLES OF FUNCTIONAL PLAY

• Bang their spoons on the table

• Shaking rattle

• Dropping objects repeatedly

• Opening and closing things

• Trowing objects

• Pushing a toy back and forth

 CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY

-this occurs when children begin to

manipulate materials to create objects and
patterns. They may not be representational
initially but are the child’s attempts at working
with the materials to produce an effect.
EXAMPLES OF CONSTRUCTIVE PLAY
 DRAMATIC PLAY

-is a form of symbolic play where a child pretends

to take on a role of someone else, imitating actions
and speech from earlier observed situations. When
another person becomes involved in the play, it is
called socio-dramatic play.
EXAMPLES OF DRAMATIC PLAY
SIX CRITERIA OF DRAMATIC PLAY

1. Imitative role play - The child undertakes a make-

believe role and expresses it in an imitative action
and/or verbalization.

2. Make-believe with regard to objects - Actions or

verbal descriptions and/or materials or toys that
are not replicas of the object itself are substituted
for real objects
SIX CRITERIA OF DRAMATIC PLAY

3. Verbal make-believe with regard to actions and

situations - Verbal dialog takes the place of body
movements. Example: “Let’s pretend I cooked the
dinner, and now I am setting the table” when only
the last activity is actually imitated.

4. Persistence in role play - The pretend play episode

lasts for at least 10 minutes.
SIX CRITERIA OF DRAMATIC PLAY

5. Interaction - At least two players interact within the

context of a play episode.

6. Verbal communication - There is some verbal

interaction with others related to the play episode.
 GAMES WITH RULES

Following rules can be difficult for children just

beginning to play games. They may want to change
the rules to make it easier to win. Or they may
collapse into tears when they lose. Gradually, they
grasp the fi xed nature of rules and understand that
rules apply to all players. Th ey come to terms with
winning sometimes and losing other times
 MILDRED PARTEN

An early theorist who focused on social play and its

development is Mildred Parten, who observed children in the first
half of the 20th century.

Parten focused on the different types of social play. In her

research she discovered that children of different ages actually
played together differently. They were capable of different
levels or categories of social play. Her categories of social play
are still a useful tool to help focus us on how social play changes
and develops at different stages of our
 PARTEN’S SIX STAGES OF PLAY

• Unoccupied behaviour - not engaged in any activity

• Solitary independent play - child playing alone, no other

children within 1 meter (3 feet)

• Onlooker behaviour - child observing others play but not

joining in
 PARTEN’S SIX STAGES OF PLAY

• Parallel play - child playing next to others without verbal

interaction

• Associative play - verbal interaction, but few attempts

to organize the play situation

• Co-operative or organized supplementary play - each

child taking an active role to plan and structure the play
situation while collaborating with each other.
THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING! 
-END-
PREPARED BY:
GALILEE P. PATDU