Solitary Play

Solitary play (also known as independent play) describes when children are playing by themselves independently of other children and are solely focused on themselves instead of others. One of Mildred Parten's six stages of play, solitary play is when a child is playing alone and using toys independently from other children. The child is focused on their solitary activity and expresses no interest in other's behavior or joining in the play of other children. Solitary play is more common in younger children (under three years) than in older children. This being one of the six stages of play, the other stages include cooperative, unoccupied, onlooker, parallel, and associative play.