Play Child Observation

Play is important to a child’s social and cognitive development. The social and imaginative play of children between the ages two and five, grows immensely during these years of their life (Baril & Corneal, 2010). Children need to be exposed to other children, so that their social interactions can help enhance each child’s ability to communicate and learn. Children can also learn a lot through play by themselves. Children participate in many different types of play, such as, unoccupied play, solitary play, parallel play, cooperative play, associative play, and onlooker play. “Ages two to five are called “The Play Years” because of the large amount of time children this age spend in play” (Baril & Corneal, 2010) and it is extremely fascinating

The program I observed is interestingly, both child-centered and academic. The teachers in this program “structure children’s learning” (Berk, 2014), while also “[providing] a variety of activities from which children select [and some] learning [also] takes place through play” (Berk, 2014). When the children participate in the academic part of the combined program, they are separated by age groups, but when play occurs the children play together in a large group. There are play stations with blocks, coloring, books, dolls, make-believe kitchens, music, and computers. Outside of the building, there is a jungle-gym the students are supervised at when the weather permits them to be outside. The day care is licensed to care for up to eighty children, and there are many teachers and facilitators present to ensure every child is being overseen and taken care

I assumed this to be true because I didn’t really realize how much a child develops cognitively and socially in a small three years of their lives. I also expected the older children to be more energetic in play than the younger children. Since younger children aren’t as socially developed as the five year olds, I supposed that the younger children would be more shy and quiet. Both of my assumptions I had about children ages two through five were wrong. The children were more likely to play with children of their own age than children older or younger than them. I now understand why this is true, because children find it easier to interact with other children who are close in development levels. As the children grew in age, their noise level seemed to reduce. Younger children don’t understand the concept of appropriately carrying themselves in a public setting like the older children have learned. While the two year olds were running around throwing balls, the five year olds were building intricate pieces and playing house. I have a better understanding after my observation at the day care of the types of play and the children’s interactions with