What is the goal of associative play?

Associative play primarily involves children engaging with one another while not necessarily working towards a common goal or task. The focus during associative play is on social interaction rather than collaboration. In this type of play, children may be involved in different activities but they communicate and comment on what each other is doing, sharing experiences and building social skills. This forms the foundation for more complex social interactions later in development, where cooperation becomes more integral in play activities. Consequently, associating through conversation and interaction, while not playing together in a structured way, is the essence of associative play.

The other options describe different aspects of play. Independent play skills are developed through solitary play, collaboration involves working together towards a shared objective, and games with strict rules reflect a more advanced stage of cooperative play where structure and agreed-upon rules dictate the engagement.