I observed in the preschool class for two hours, there were a total of 12 children in the class Most of the kids that are in the preschool class were four years old, but there was one five year old. When I first arrived at the preschool, the kids seemed very shy towards me and they did not seem like they were very sociable. I was a stranger to them, and I would have to guess that all of the children were experiencing a little bit of stranger anxiety. I talked to the teacher about how the children reacted to all “strangers” She said that the children often become very uneasy. As I sat down to observe the children, I noticed one thing right away. The boys in the group were very wild and rambunctious, and the girls seemed to be shy and
And, if one was playing in a certain area, then the other one would go to that area to play. The girls often imitated one another also. I noticed that one little girl went to go play with the dolls, and sure enough, most of the other girls went along to play with the dolls with her. Imitation is a great way for children to learn about the world, and is often a sociable test to see how far that they can stretch the rules. I noticed that when a model is present, imitation is likely to take place. I spent a great deal of time watching how the children in the classroom played. Play is described as “pleasurable activity engaged for its own sake.” I noticed that there was some parallel play. An example I found was when two boys were playing with Lego’s. The boys did not participate directly with one another, but they played alongside each other and other children while they were enjoying their Lego’s. There was some associative play, but I saw more of this in the girls. Some of the girls were playing with Barbie’s. The girls were demonstrating associative play because they were playing and sharing with each other. I had the chance to participate in cooperative play when we played “duck, duck, goose!” this showed cooperative play because the children were involved in structured games that involved rules. When I was observing, I was involved in some fantasy play. Two of the girls told me that I was the daddy, and one was the