Component 1: Relationships with Others
Learning Goal 1.b: Children engage in positive relationships and interactions with other children.
By 9 months, most children:
- Babble and smile to show their interest in other children
- Intently watch other babies and children, especially their faces
- Track the activity of other children and notice/move toward others when hearing sounds of excitement
- Reach out to touch other children’s hair, face, etc.
By 18 months, most children:
- Engage in positive interactions with other children while supervised
- Imitate and respond to other children’s actions and behaviors
- Play alone or engage in parallel play (i.e., play next to but not directly involved in another child’s play)
- Recognize and respond differently to younger children
By 24 months, most children:
- Demonstrate interest or concern for a peer who is hurt, fallen, or in distress
- Recognize the idea of possessions (i.e., acting as though they own something) and demonstrate an understanding of “mine” and “not mine”
- Predominately use parallel play (next to others) while trying out associative play (sharing toys or commenting on the play of others)
By 36 months, most children:
- Watch and copy other children’s play activities
- Seek assistance from an adult caregiver in resolving conflicts with other children
- Understand how to take turns during play with other children, with adult guidance and assistance
- Participate in associative play with other children (i.e., engaging in separate play activities while occasionally sharing toys or commenting on another child’s play)
By 48 months, most children:
- Share and take turns using materials
- Suggest solutions to conflicts, with adult guidance and assistance
- Initiate play and conversations with other children
- Participate in pretend play with other children
- Express how another child or storybook character might feel
- Notice and show concern for peers’ feelings
- Comfort peers when they are hurt or upset, with adult guidance and assistance
By 60 months, most children:
- Make decisions with other children, with adult guidance and assistance
- Demonstrate consideration for and cooperation with other children
- Prefer to play with one or two special friends
- Suggest solutions to conflicts
- Demonstrate an ability to compromise when working or playing in a group
- Sustain interactions with friends for increasing periods of time
- Successfully enter into play when a group of children are already involved
- Can predict the causes of other children’s emotions (e.g., “she is sad because . . . ”)
