California Preschool Learning Foundations - ECEZero2Three ...

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
20 | Relationships
3.0 Friendships
At around 48 months of age At around 60 months of age
3.1 Choose to play with one or two
special peers whom they identify
as friends.
Children play with many peers but also seek
the company of one or two specific children
whom they identify as friends. Children are
more cooperative and share more complex
play with friends than with other children.
Examples Examples
• Plays with the same friend regularly.
• Plays more complex, imaginative roles with a
friend than with other peers.
• Seeks out a favorite peer when entering the room.
• Sits next to a friend at circle time or mealtime.
• Notices when a friend is absent.
• Can identify a friend by name (e.g., “Sara is my
friend!”).
• Offers a toy to a friend to play with.
3.1 Friendships are more reciprocal,
exclusive, and enduring.
Children seek to share activities with special
friends who, in return, seek their company.
Friends act more positively toward each other
but may also experience greater conflict.
Children respond with enhanced efforts at
conflict resolution.
• Sits regularly with one or two special friends
at lunch.
• Seeks to play exclusively with one or more
friends, even to the extent of excluding other
children from the play group.
• Communicates, “We’re friends, right?” when
seeking to play with a special peer.
• Comes to the defense of a friend who is teased
by a peer.
• Engages in recurrent, familiar, and cooperative
role-play activities with one or more favorite
friends in the setting.
• Shares about experiences in the family with a
special friend.
• Laughs with a friend about an experience they
have shared.
Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1 • California Department of Education