Play
Solitary Play: Is It a Problem?
Many parents worry when their child prefers to play alone. Is this a sign of a problem? Will it affect social development? The truth is that solitary...
4 min read
20 articles found
Play
Games That Encourage Shared Attention
Before babies can speak, they can point. Before they can describe, they can share gaze. The capacity to jointly attend to something with another perso...
3 min read
Play
Role-Playing Games for Children Aged 2–3
The 2-to-3-year-old is becoming a narrative thinker. They are not just acting out individual pretend actions — they are beginning to construct scenes,...
2 min read
Play
Why Pretend Play Is Important for Development
The moment a child picks up a banana and holds it to their ear as a phone, they are making a cognitive leap: using one thing to represent another. Thi...
2 min read
Play
Parallel Play: What It Is and When It Appears
If you've watched young toddlers play together, you've likely observed parallel play—children playing beside each other with their own toys, occasiona...
5 min read
Play
Why Not All Children Are Ready for Group Activities
Not every child arrives at a playdate or nursery group and immediately joins in. Some children stand at the edge of a group for a long time before ent...
2 min read
Play
Group Play for Children With Social Anxiety
Some children naturally feel anxious in social situations and group settings. Rather than pushing them into uncomfortable social exposure, gradual, su...
4 min read
Play
Play Ideas for Groups of Children Aged 1–3
Organising play between multiple 1–3 year olds requires understanding what is developmentally realistic. This is not an age group for organised group...
2 min read
Play
Games That Build Cooperation
Most early childhood board games are competitive — one player wins, others lose. For children aged 2–5, who are still developing the theory of mind an...
2 min read
Play
First Shared Games Between Children
Parents sometimes set up playdates expecting that toddlers will play together, only to find two children playing independently while occasionally look...
2 min read
Play
How to Encourage a Shy Child to Join Group Play
Shyness is a personality trait, not a character flaw. Some children are naturally more reserved and take longer to warm up to groups. Rather than tryi...
4 min read
Play
Cooperative Play for Toddlers
Toddlers are naturally egocentric. This isn't selfishness—it's a normal developmental stage where the world revolves around their experience and their...
6 min read
Parenting
When Children Exclude Others: What It Means
Your child is playing with a friend and another child approaches to join. "No! You can't play with us!" Your child's friend looks hurt. As a parent, y...
6 min read
Emotions
How Children Learn to Assert Boundaries
Parents are often ambivalent about the boundary-asserting behaviour of toddlers — simultaneously wanting their child to be assertive and finding the a...
3 min read
Emotions
Adapting to New People: What Is Normal for Young Children
Your child clings to you when meeting your parent's friends. Your toddler refuses to be held by a visiting relative. You worry this means your child i...
5 min read
Daycare
How Daycare Affects a Child's Social Development
Daycare is a social laboratory where children learn essential social skills through daily peer interaction. Unlike family relationships, peer relation...
6 min read
Daycare
How Children Learn to Play Side by Side and Together
Learning to play with others is one of the most significant developmental achievements of the early years. It does not happen all at once — the journe...
3 min read
Daycare
Daycare as a New Stage in a Child's Development
Starting daycare is often framed around parental concerns—logistics, cost, guilt. Yet from a child development perspective, beginning daycare represen...
4 min read
Daycare
Why Montessori Daycares Use Mixed-Age Groups
In most conventional daycare and nursery settings, children are grouped by year of birth — a room of 2-year-olds, a room of 3-year-olds. In Montessori...
4 min read
Daycare
First Interactions With Other Children in a Group
When young children first join a daycare group, they do not immediately play with others. Understanding the typical progression of early peer interact...
3 min read