Play with others emerges slowly. Your relationship with a child early in life predicts how well he or she will get along with others later. Dramatic play and creative play may also be called social play. Children try out different roles and occupations such as firefighter, dancer, mom, dad and singer. Kids at this age do a lot of imitating of the parents' roles.
Manipulative play makes active use of the hands, muscles and eyes.
Playing with puzzles, crayons, painting, scissors, beads, tools, blocks, dolls and trucks are a few examples. Though the toys you could buy might seem endless, what you have on hand may easily fulfill the role of stimulating play. Such ordinary items can unleash a youngster's imagination in ways that ordinary toys don't. There is the classic example of the parent who spent hours and plenty of money over the holidays to find the perfect Christmas gift for her 2 year-old. She was disappointed to find that her daughter had more fun playing inside the carton that had held the toy.