While observing at the pre-school at SNC, I was able to see that while children were 'tattling' on each other to the adult it is normal in their development because at their stages they are not able to take the viewpoints of others very well. This makes it hard to understand why a child may be doing something another student may not understand. But simply through talking to each other they are always able to resolve their issues. Also, children at this stage love to make-believe play and use their imaginations with one another. It was very neat to watch the children interact with each other during their own made up games. Thinking back on my childhood, I hardly recall play like this, so viewing it through observation was very refreshing.
I found it interesting that these children did not mind that an adult was watching them, they acted almost as if I was not there. It is fascinating to hear and see the ideas these children have during play. Their minds have endless possibilites and their imaginations take them every where.
I would have to say my favorite observation was while I was watching my nieces. Because I have known them since they were babies, it was very cool to make connections to their different stages Jasmin has gone through, and to make connections with Peyton as she moves through the sensori-motor stage. Through time Peyton has been able to find that shaking things makes noises, and I have seen her develop the idea of object permanence with her different toys. During play she tends to play with things that stack, but loves to try and interact with her sister as well, even if she has no idea what Jasmin is doing.
Jasmin was the most interesting to learn from though, because I made an observation during her play that I have not quite been able to figure out, yet I find it very interesting. While she is playing by herself, she tends to read books and draw. She does things that do not involve make-believe nor does she let her imagination run wild. However, when playing with peers, she loves to use make-believe play and her imagination is everywhere. According to Piaget's stages of development, she has a difficult taking the viewpoints of others, which I can see as well. She tends to hide from her little sister, Peyton, when she tries to come play with her. She finds Peyton to be annoying and that she gets in the way. Perhaps Jasmin just cannot understand that Peyton is younger and does not have the understanding of being annoying or mean during play, she is just trying to be by Jasmin, but Jasmin sees her as a bother.
Overall I feel like I have learned that observation is extremely important in understanding children in multiple different ways. Not only do we need to be sure to observe children in a learning situation, but we need to be sure that we are observing them during play too. Play is one of the best learning opportunities for children, and if we are watching this happen, we can better understand them. Using a theorist like Piaget was very helpful in understanding the stages children go through as they get older. Although not all children move through the stages at the same pace, comparing their abilities to general stage characteristics was very cool to do as well.
After this project, it was clearer to me how children can and do learn through play. As my niece played with the same toy, she eventually learned to correlation of objects to their shape. She also learned about the world around her through sensory movement with the objects. Often throwing and sucking on objects helped her learn about the world around her. As for my older niece, she has a hard time relating to the point of view of her younger sisters, and that is apparent as she locks herself away from them. Also, The children in the pre-school show their difficulty to relate to other view points as they tattle on one another for saying something the other does not agree with.
Through watching the make-believe play in the SNC children's center, I was also able to see that the children love to learn through playing with their imagination. They play through being different people, in a made up situation they CHOOSE to be in. This is one of the most interesting things I have encountered. Children are able to do and relate to so many things when they are a character outside of themselves. But in reality, they find it very difficult to do so.
The learning that took place for me in this project was great, and I know look at observation of children playing in a completely different way.
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