Adult Roles in Language Play

Language play is also a social activity in the infant and toddler years. The role of the parent, sibling, or other caregiver in using parentese with the child teaches the child the game of taking turns in speech. At first the mother takes the turn for both, but soon the infant engages in the play with cooing, babbling, and attempting vocalization. Play with language is extended with the first mother–infant games involving motor activities, such as peek-a-boo and patty-cake. The infant imitates the physical movements and gestures used by the mother and enjoys the physical actions that accompany the games. Object permanence in cognitive development permits the child to enjoy the disappearance and reappearance of the play partner in peek-a-boo.

Parents and caregivers also follow the lead of the child in communicative language play. When the infant initiates the play with babbling, the adult responds by imitating the infant’s vocalizations. The game continues with infant and adult taking turns making new vocalizations.

Toddlers use emerging vocabulary to engage in symbolic play. McCune (1986) describes a child using a play screwdriver for a toothbrush by first labeling it and then making the motion of "toothbrushing"; an example of planned symbolic games. This anticipates the more advanced play with language that emerges in the early childhood years when social development makes it possible for young children to interact in play activities.