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: 12-15 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 12-15 Months.

Demonstrates parallel object play with another child (plays with same or similar toys, but not with another child)

Situations for Observation of Skill

Observe the baby when another baby is close by. Have several toys within the infants’ reach.

Elicitation Strategy

No elicitation needed.

Behavior Observed

The infants will both be interested in each other, but more interested in their toys. They will look up at each other and may imitate an action, but then return to play. If the children do physically engage it will probably be to get the other child’s toy.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Help parents watch this parallel play interaction and point out how children are learning from watching each other. Early exposure to other children helps children develop a desire to have peer social interactions. Early childhood educators and parents can support sharing and turn-taking as a play partner.

 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/.