Parten, Mildred Parten

Mildren Parten (1902-1970), also known as Mildred Parten Newhall, was an American sociologist and play theorist who proposed there being ‘six stages of play’ in 1929. These stages were based significantly on a series of experimental observations made of children playing for short periods of time.

The six stages being:

Unoccupied play, in which a child may or may not be on their own yet is playing on their own without reference to any other children
Solitary (or independent) play, in which a child is playing on their own and might appear unaware of what other children are playing around them
Onlooker play, in which a child is watching other children playing, yet is not joining in with them
Parallel (or adjacent) play, in which a child may be playing more or less the same thing as other nearby children, with more or less the same objects and materials, and more or less the same narrative or storyline but is separate from them
Associative play, in which a child may appear to be part of a group of playmates and even sharing playthings with them, yet is not actually connected or communicating with them
Cooperative play, in which a child is actively engaged in a group of people playing and is fully part of that narrative

Often confused as a psychologist, Parten was a sociologist and this is evident in her ideas in which dynamics between pairs and groups of children are key. In fact, one of the criticisms often laid against the six stages is that they give prominence to ideas of socialisation as a form of development rather than the cognitive – except that’s the point of using a sociological approach!

As a contemporary of people such as Jean Piaget and Lev Vygoysky it is probably not surprising that the six stages are often interpreted as being progressive; in other words, all children begin with solitary play before moving on to onlooker play, etc., in order. Yet more recent observations suggest that the link with age and progression may not be as clear cut as first suggested.

The six stages have also tended to be more relevant to the early years (Parten’s own observations were of children between two and five years of age) yet it is clearly the case that the six stages could easily be applied as a descriptive tool of older children playing too.

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What do you think? Are Parten’s ‘six stages’ still relevant today?