Peer interaction in children's dyadic play

Developmental trends in peer play were investigated by examining play behaviours of 2‐ to 6‐year‐old children as they interacted with a same‐age and same‐gender peer. Fourty five pairs consisting of children familiar with each other participated in a dyadic play session. Children's play behaviour was assessed on the Scale of Social Participation in Play using the version of Tizard et al. [1976]. The focus of the study was to examine the occurrence of social participation types and play organisation as a function of age, gender and linguistic skills. The results revealed linearly decreasing age trends in nonplay and solitary play and increasing age trends in parallel play and social play. Age‐related differences were also found in the complexity of play organisation. Language skills were related both to type of social participation and play organisation while gender differences were significant only in parallel and social play.