Parallel play

"This is considered an early stage in child development, characterized by egocentric behavior and the inability to decenter and coordinate with the activities of a 'playmate'".

This stage ends when a child develops the ability to engage in interactive play behavior and symbolic communication.

Parten noticed a dramatic rise of interactive play with age and concluded that social development includes three stages.

[8] Parallel play helps children begin language development and create social relationships.

[9] Children will undergo different playing stages in order to finally join people in groups.

Analysis published in 2003 in Early Childhood Research Quarterly showed that preschool children, who enjoy watching others engage in parallel play, can have future activities designed to help with transition into higher levels of social interaction.

The parallel-play activities can help neglected or rejected children with social transition between social-play states.

According to a study performed by Wei Peng and Julia Crouse, parallel play can be used to design games, especially active video games that involve physical activity, to be more effective.