Solitary play happens when a child is playing by him or herself (Gordon 404). There is no interaction with another person. For example, take a child playing with blocks. It may appear that he/she is just stacking blocks, but they are developing fine motor skills because they are manipulating the blocks with their fingers (Dodge). At the same time they are learning cognitive skills such as cause and effe

Parallel play is similar to solitary play. In parallel, the child is still playing alone, but next to another child (Gordon 404). There is no verbal communication between them. Two children sitting quietly reading or looking at books are absorbing more than pictures. Turning the paper pages of the book is defining their fine motor skills. This task uses the pinching motion of the fingers. Even if the child can’t read, they are still growing intellectually. The story may be one that he or she has been read before so they “know” the story and are rehearsing what they remember of it in their head and using the pictures to guide them if they have forgotten.

Cooperative play is two or more children working together towards one goal (Gordon 404). Each child has a specific, defined role in the activity. When children play in a group, they tend to dramatize the play. Dramatic play is spontaneous and imaginative in most cases, as part of the setting or activity and perceives how the children view the world (Biblow 27). A classic cooperative play activity that is classified as dramatic play is better known as house. One child is the mother, one is a father, and so on. Each child is doing something different, but they are still working towards the goal of being a family. If there are dolls involved, the children are learning how to hold an infant and mimicking how they see adults nurture children (Gordon 406). Children can express themselves through actions and words that would normally be unacceptable from a child (Biblow 202). For example, as observed on March 24, 2003, Kelly was changing her doll’s diaper and kept telling it to lay still, each time getting louder and louder. Finally she hit the doll. When she finished changing the diaper, she picked the doll up, gave it a hug, and said “See? That wasn’t so bad.”

“Play is a child’s work” (Callard). The skills children learn when they are young will stay with them through out their life (Fromberg 313). The child that prefers to be alone will gain skills that he or she may need to work at a computer data entry job. Parallel playing children will be able to work as a telephone operator. An associative player may grow to be a social butterfly, interacting with everybody, but meeting his or

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