Infant Toddler Learning & Development Foundations

Interactions with Peers
Behaviors leading up to the
foundation (4 to 7 months)
During this period, the child may:
• Notice other infants and children
while sitting on a parent’s
or infant care teacher’s lap.
• Cry when hearing another baby
cry. (4 mos.; Meisels and others
2003, 10)
Behaviors leading up to the
foundation (9 to 17 months)
During this period, the child may:
• Engage in solitary play. (toddler;
Segal 2004, 38)
• Play a reciprocal game, such as
pat-a-cake, with the infant care
teacher and a peer. (7–11 mos.;
Frankenburg and othres 1990)
Behaviors leading up to the
foundation (19 to 35 months)
During this period, the child may:
• Use gestures to communicate
a desire to play with a peer.
(18–24 mos.; Parks 2004, 123)
• Refuse to let a peer have a turn
on the swing. (24 mos.; Meisels
and others 2003, 45)
• Push or bite when another child
takes a toy. (24–30 mos.; Parks
2004)
19
• Engage in complementary
interactions, such as feeding a
stuffed animal that another child
is holding or pulling a friend
in the wagon. (24–30 mos.;
Meisels and others 2003, 57;
Howes and Matheson 1992,
967)
• Join a group of children who
are together in one play space
and follow them as they move
outside. (30 mos.; Meisels and
others 2003, 57)
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT