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1. Early Childhood Education

2. As adults, we know
how to make friends,
it’s almost instinctive.
We start talking to
someone casually,
asking questions and
discovering if we have
anything in
common. Eventually,
we exchange numbers,
make plans
and…voila! We have a
new friend!

3. But when you look
around an early
childhood education
setting, building
friendships looks
quite a bit different.
Most of the time, babies
and toddlers will happily
play right next to each
other, never really
interacting at all! And
when they do,
there’s usually pinching
and grabbing
and crying involved. But
why is this?

4. Are we born with such poor social skills? Not at all! Playing
together is a learned skill, and just like every other area of
development, there are stages that children go
through to learn how to make friends.

5. Babies are born
social. They smile
at those who smile
at them and they
giggle no matter who
is playing peek-a-boo
with them. And when it
comes to other children
and babies, they are
captivated! Even
toddlers love interacting
with people, though
sometimes only from
the safety of a loved
one’s arms.

6. No matter how
much they love
seeing
and even briefly
interacting with
others, when it
comes to playtime
they enjoy doing their
own thing. Babies and
young toddlers are very
egocentric, their world
revolves around their
needs and wants.

7. When they want to
play with something,
they want to explore
and learn, playing with
it their way, not sharing
it with someone else.
So when you look
around an early
childhood education
center, you’ll notice that
most of the younger
children are playing
next to each other, not
really together.

8. This is called parallel play, and it’s a typical stage of
development that all babies and young toddlers go through on
their way to learning how to be social with others. It’s actually
not until toddlers are between three and four years old that
they really start branching out and interacting with their peers,
as opposed to next to them.

9. This type of play, called associative play, usually involves a lot
of interaction between children, but it doesn’t really involve
cooperating together, following rules, or even taking turns. This
type of play, called associative play, usually involves a lot of
interaction between children, but it doesn’t really involve

10. Eventually this play evolves into games with rules and some
sort of structure, children working together to create an end
result. This type of play, known as cooperative play, usually
shows up between the ages of four and five. Children
may have assigned roles and talk to each other about what
the plan is in order to reach a common goal.

11. They are learning to respect property, ask for permission to
play, and are more willing to share their toys. Cooperative play
requires less guidance in an early childhood setting than the
earlier stages, and more observation from adults, as they
problem solve their way to success!

12. Making friends is a learned skill, and it’s one that takes time.
After all, sharing, and playing is a learning process, and
requires a lot of guidance. But watching children evolve from
playing next to each other to playing with each other is so
rewarding.

13. So watch your child play next to another child, and rest
assured that they will make the next step, building friendships
as they build their social skills. Watching children evolve and
grow to become great friends is one of the most rewarding
parts of being in an early childhood setting like ours!

14. Thanks for watching this. To know more about
early childhood education in O’Fallon MO
visit:
Bright Start Academy