Child Development Observations

Child Development Observations

SECTION I: The Environment

My niece loves to explore, and she is fascinated by everything in her environment. She is in the Pre-K category based on her age. In the house, we have many spaces for her to play in. She has access to a wide variety of engaging and interactive materials. Her parents have provided her with many different toys for her to play with. She has stuffed animals like a teddy bear, a stuffed giraffe, among many others. She also has other toys like her Barbie dolls, toy cars, sets to play doctor, a dollhouse, and many other different toys.

Her room’s walls have many hangings that are appropriate for her age. Some of her artwork is also hanging on her walls. The child has enough space for her to play, both upstairs and downstairs. Most of the time, she plays individually or with her older sibling. Other times, the adults participate in her play activities. Downstairs, we have board games and puzzles which she enjoys playing with. She also has numerous art supplies like drawing books, coloring books, crayons, and paint at her disposal. She has age-appropriate books on the shelves too. In the backyard, we have a swing set and a slide. At the corner, there is a sandbox with a plastic shovel and bucket for her to play with.

All these materials should keep her busy when she is at home. More importantly, they allow her to interact with the environment and learn. The materials will enable her to learn and develop both her mind and body. Physical and mental development go hand in hand, and I believe that all these items will be instrumental in developing her into a wholesome individual. The toys allow her to interact with family members, such as her sibling and her parents.

. Based on child development hypotheses and theories, a child’s development depends on their ability to interact with the environment. The house is, therefore, well suited for my niece’s development. Most parents would prefer that the learning activities of children are focused on reading and memorization. However, this is not the right approach because children do not have the same needs when they are learning and should be provided with a diverse selection of learning activities to benefit the most. The family tries to adopt a positive reinforcement strategy with her learning.

SECTION II: What a child is doing during the length of my observation

            Because I only have my niece to observe, my observation might be biased. However, I did manage to gauge her level of knowledge. She is familiar with the environment and with the puzzle which she was going to complete. She had to play in the downstairs playing space where the art space and books are. I removed a single piece from the puzzle to make the activity more challenging and to observe how she would react to it. When she found that a part of the puzzle was missing, she began to look around the room for it. My niece asked her mother for whether she knew where the puzzle piece. When her mother turned out to be no help, she asked another family member before she returned to the playing space. She looked through the other toys for the missing puzzle piece, where she seemed distracted by other toys.

My niece spent about seven minutes looking for the missing puzzle piece among the other toys. She even left the playing space to look for the missing piece in different rooms, including her bedroom. I asked them what they thought about the missing part, and they told me that they did not want to leave the puzzle incomplete. I decided to use art as a distraction by asking them to use crayons to draw the missing puzzle piece. They were open to the idea, and my niece retrieved her drawing book and immediately embarked on her task. She was determined to find a solution. I promised to show them where the missing puzzle piece if she drew it correctly to motivate her. Within four minutes, she had completed the drawing of the missing puzzle piece, and I was impressed.

I hang her drawing on the wall so that family members who came into the room could see it. When her mother went into the room and saw her drawing, she commended her work and told her that she was proud of her. Other family members who saw the drawing also expressed that they were impressed. My niece seemed pleased with her achievement because she couldn’t stop smiling and giggling as a result of the approval of her family members. I could tell that the appreciation of others helped build her self-esteem. After seeing that she was interested in drawing again, I asked her to copy other structures. She drew copies of other pictures which I presented her from the internet and her books. After forty-five minutes, she had completed several drawings, which I also hang on the wall.

SECTION III: Inferences and Interpretations

• Personal and Social Development

My niece is already used to interacting with everyone in the family and seems to know everyone well enough to be herself around them. Because I have not had a chance to analyze her behavior around her peers. However, I have noted that she quickly embraces new people. This may be related to her age because children usually develop stronger senses of identity and feel more secure with themselves (Bigras, Lemay, Bouchard, & Eryasa, 2017). My niece has an easy time playing with all the family members. She likes to engage in conversations with everyone and has no problem expressing herself freely around everyone. I, therefore, believe that she would quickly fit into any social setting. When she found out that one of the puzzle pieces was missing, she asked family members. On failing to find a solution there, she was able to come up with a different strategy by beginning to look for the piece in the playing area. From this, I could tell that she is able to work both as an individual and with others.

• Physical Development

Throughout my observation, my niece had moved around the house from room to room as she tried to find the missing puzzle piece. She did this for close to half an hour. This is beneficial for her because, at her age, movement should not be restricted. She will only settle in the same place for a prolonged period if she is engaged in something interesting, like drawing or reading. The good news is that the house has enough space for her to move around, including the play area. She can develop her fine motor skills when she draws and solves puzzles. She also engages her mind through such tasks, as well as developing her body.

• Cognitive and Language Development

I was able to involve my niece in two different activities. She solved a puzzle and drew using crayons. The puzzle stimulated her drive for exploration. This was enhanced by her search for the missing puzzle piece throughout the house. As she was trying to find the missing puzzle piece, she had to talk to other family members to communicate her needs, hence developing her language. When I asked her to draw the missing puzzle piece, she developed her cognitive abilities by realizing that there was an alternative solution to her problem. Her curiosity grew, and her interaction with her environment was enhanced throughout my observation. Hanging the drawings on the wall made her feel good.  She had come to appreciate her own abilities to solve problems and was therefore eager to tackle additional challenges. Involving other people in her learning process was beneficial because it encompassed problem-solving, analysis, evaluation, and application of knowledge and creativity (Rouse, Morrissey, & Robertson, 2018).

References

Bigras, N., Lemay, L., Bouchard, C., & Eryasa, J. (2017). Sustaining the support in four-year-olds in childcare services with the goal of promoting their cognitive and language development. Early Child Development and Care, 187(12), 1987-2001.

Rouse, E., Morrissey, A.M., & Robertson, N. (2018). Play-based learning can set your child up for success at school and beyond. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/play-based-learning-can-set-your-child-up-for-success-at-school-and-beyond-91393. 20^th March 2020.