Essay On Early Childhood Observation

I had the opportunity to observe at the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center in Long Beach. It was my first time observing in this center so I had to be there before my observation time, which was at 2:30pm. Once, I entered the building the atmosphere was welcoming and enjoyable. The children I observed where around the ages of three to five. During my observation there was twenty-eight children and five teachers present. The building was all wooden on the inside and at the entrance there was a welcome wall colored with a rainbow. There were art projects hanged on the walls as well as learning material. On the sides of the of the building shelves were organized with labels so that the children would know where to put back the material.
Jack was wearing a long sleeve green shirt with gray pants. Jack’s hair was cut short from the sides and was breaded from the back into a small pony tail. I choose to observed Jack because he was calmly playing on a table of puzzles with one friend on his side. At first, I noticed that Jack was involved in solitary play. According to Kylie Rymanowicz (2015), “Solitary play occurs when children entertain themselves without any other social involvement.” Jack was playing on his own building the puzzle and undoing it and redoing it again. Jack repeated the same action for about three times. Jack was not distracted with his surroundings, he was really focused and entertained building the same puzzle piece. Play is an important aspect in the development of children because through play children are able to learn skills. For example, “They learn social skills like effective communication, conflict resolution, problem solving and cooperation” (Rymanowicz, 2015). Jack was learning how to problem solve through playing with the puzzle piece because he had to find which pieces went together. Children like Jack enjoy hands-on activities because they are enjoyable and are able to learn important