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Child Observation

Oakton Community College


Early Childhood Center
Skokie Campus
Director
Yvonne Kostic
Introduction to Early Childhood
Rachel Handley
Tuesday March 21, 2011

On Friday March the 4th, I went to observe at Oakton Community College Early
Childhood Center in Skokie. I observed from 9:10-9:25. The child that I observed is 4 years
old. Her name is Maguire. She has long brown hair, brown eyes and she is a short four year
old. She is Caucasian. She was wearing brown corduroy pants and a pink, purple and yellow
shirt. It looked like it had flowers on it. Her tennis shoes had green, yellow and red in them.
She started out playing in the play dough area with the play dough and the cookie cutters. A
child walked over and picked up some play dough. She said Thats mine. The teacher
whispered in her ear. She had a frown on her face after the teacher whispered in her ear. She
started rolling the play dough in her hands. She started smooshing it. The teacher said Carlies
here now. Maguire says Carlies back there and uses her thumb to point behind her. Carlie
walks in the door and the teacher says How can she be there then ? and points to the door.
Maguire laughs.
Maguire walks away from the play dough area, swinging her arms, over to
dramatic play where some children are setting up a puppet stage. She sat down behind the
puppet stage and said We dont have any puppets? again with a frown on her face. The teacher
brings some puppets over. She picks up the skunk and starts making the skunk sing in a high
pitched voice. One child starts arguing with another child over the chairs. She goes to get three
more chairs from somewhere else in the classroom. She now sits down in front of the puppet
stage to watch some other children playing with the puppets. She laughs as the other children
start singing a song with the puppets. Now it is her turn. She sits down in back of the puppet
stage. She picks up a mouse finger puppet and an owls finger puppet. She starts singing The

mouse and the owl, the mouse and the owl, the mouse and the owl. She stops for a couple of
minutes. She starts again. She sings the mouse and the owl, the mouse and the owl, the mouse
and the owl climb up the chimney. They fall down.
I think that when the teacher was whispering in her ear that Maguire was mad because
she didnt want to share the play dough. She was over there playing by herself with all the play
dough to herself and all of the sudden some other children came over and wanted to play with
play dough too. I think shes frustrated about not wanting to share the play dough because she
was frowning right after the teacher whispered in her ear about it. Although typically developing
four year olds are learning how to share better than 3 year olds 4 year olds have not learned how
to share yet. Maguire is also a young four year old so that makes it harder. (Who Am I in Lives
of Children, Stephanie Feeney, Eva Moravick, Sherry Nolte and Doris Christensen, p.166)
Another developmental milestone of a four year old is that their attention span is increasing.
Maguire was playing with the play dough for a good fifteen minutes including the time that I was
conversing with her before the observation and the time during the observation. (Feeney,
Moravic, Nolte and Christensen, p.166) When Maguire was playing with the puppets she
demonstrated the ability to engage in cooperative play and to take turns. When she was singing
Maguire was using 4 to five word sentences, which is a developmental millstone of four year
olds. (Feeney, Moravick and Christensen p.166) She was swinging her arms as she walked from
the play dough activity to dramatic play, which is also a developmental milestone of four year
olds. (Feeney, Moravick, Christensen, p.166) Maguire showed that she understood that other
children have thoughts, ideas and memories by sitting there and listening to the other children as

they were playing with the puppets. She was laughing at their jokes. This something else that is
characteristic of four year olds. (Feeney, Moravick and Christensen p.166) She showed a rapid
change in her mood shift. One minute she was frowning and the next minute she was playing
with pal dough as if nothing had happened and she wasnt angry at all. This is typical for a four
year old as well. (Feeney, Moravick and Christensen, p.166) When she was playing with the
puppets she clearly demonstrated that she understood the difference between reality and fantasy.
She was making up a silly song and using a silly voice. (Feeney, Moravick and Christensen,
p.166) It was also clear to me that she must have seen someone else playing with puppets at one
time because she knew exactly what to do with the puppets. I also thought that she showed good
large motor coordination and hand eye coordination when she was walking and carrying a chair
at the same time. (Feeney, Moravick and Christensen, p.166) Some children lose their balance
when walking and carrying furniture with them, but she didnt. She also demonstrated problem
solving skills. She saw a child arguing over a chair with another child so she went to get another
chair for the child who didnt have one. (Feeney, Moravick and Christensen, p. 166)
Jean Piaget believed that a child constructed their own learning by interacting
with the objects and the environment. (Feeney, Moravick and Christensen, p.145) When
Maguire was experimenting with the play dough and the cookie cutters she was constructing her
own knowledge. She was figuring out how to use the cookie cutters and the shapes that they
make when you press them against the cookie cutters. When she was using the puppets she was
constructing knowledge as well when she was singing songs with them. She also learned where
to place them on her hand.

This assignment was hard. It was hard because you are only observing the child
for fifteen minutes so to get a clear idea of what the child is like in fifteen minutes is difficult. I
learned how a child interacts with her environment and the affect it has on her learning. I did
learn that Maguire likes to be involved in sensory activities, like play dough. I might provide
more sensory opportunities for her since I know she enjoys sensory activities. I think in the
future I just need more practice at an observation like this. Im used to doing an hour long
observation, so to get enough information about the child down in fifteen minutes is hard to do.

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