North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Emotional and Social Development (ESD)

Subdomain: Developing a Sense of Self with Others

Goal: Children form relationships and interact positively with other children

Skill Progression: Positive social interactions

Age: 30-33 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 30-33 Months.

Language and actions are increasingly coordinated with joint discussion of actions, descriptions, and regulation of play; words begin to serve as turns in games

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the child in play with another peer. If no peer is available an adult can be a play partner. Have motivating dramatic play props related to daily routines or favorite stories.

Elicitation Strategy

If spontaneous play is not initiated by the child, the adult may prompt ideas to stimulate interaction.

Behavior Observed

Once engaged in the thematic play, the child engages the peer in thematic dialogue, and offers and/or follows directions from the peer.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Help parents understand the importance of social play and interaction for the child’s development. If siblings are not in the home, the parents need to be play partners. Play gives the child an opportunity to learn how to use his expanding vocabulary in conversations. Discussions and word games in the car, at dinner, etc. are also important. Make book reading a shared activity as well.

 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.