Young toddlers playing in the sand with their teacher are observed in order to see the connection between what toddlers do and say and early learning guidelines. Video ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sl0Srx7P5s )
Video ( https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sl0Srx7P5s )
Young toddlers playing in the sand with their teacher are observed in order to see the connection between what toddlers do and say and early learning guidelines.
Included in this module are infant observation videos. Choose one of the videos provided and complete the observation assignment.
You will be observing infants ages (6mo. to 24 months). For the observational report you will complete it in two parts.
Part 1- As you are observing the child in your selected video you will take observation notes about his/her development in all domains (Biosocial, Cognitive and Psychosocial Development). During your observation, you will complete a running record of everything you see and or hear the child doing.
Follow the guidelines below for an accurate and objective observation
Record only facts
Record every detail without omitting anything.
Use action words (verbs) whenever possible
Record only what you see or hear. Be careful to avoid recording something that did not occur.
The purpose of this observation is to help you learn more about normal developmental differences of children of various ages as you watch them interact with other children and adults. You should focus extensively on one child in video.
Use words that describe but do not judge.
Record the facts in the order they occur.
Order makes a difference
*Follow the guidelines below for an accurate and objective observation:
Record only facts.
Record every detail without omitting anything.
Use action words (verbs) whenever possible.
Observe without interrupting.
Record only what you see or hear. Be careful to avoid recording something that did not occur.
Use words that describe but do not judge.
Record the facts in the order they occur.
Order makes a difference.
During your observation, you will complete the running record form listed below. The form is broken up into three columns.
The first column you will provide information about the setting that the child is in and who is interacting with the child (e.g., classroom setting, 2 adults in the room with the child). The middle column is where you will write everything you see and or hear the child doing. This section should include only factual information. The last column is where you will include which developmental domain is being observed in that moment of time (e.g., Biosocial, Cognitive or Psychosocial Development)
Part 2
After watching the observation video and writing your observation notes you will prepare a written report. Your report should be at least two pages in length, double-spaced pages in length, and address the following: Your written report should follow this format.
An introductory paragraph. Include identification of the developmental period, age/sex of the target child, and date/location of the observation. Describe people present and the setting briefly.
Describe examples in each area of development (physical, social-emotional, cognitive, and language, adaptive/self-help) that you observed. Compare and connect your observations to the information presented in the chapters of the textbook and class discussions relevant to the developmental stage and age of the child observed. For each domain relate relevant information from the textbook that supports each of your statements. Cite textbook readings. Some examples include:
1. Psychosocial development: attachment, synchrony, self-awareness, temperament, stranger wariness, separation anxiety, expression of emotions, parenting styles, social referencing. Refer to the textbook that focuses on Psychosocial Development of the book and relate, integrate the theories and concepts from the book with your observations of the child. Theories you should integrate include Erickson, Behaviorism, Cognitive Theory, Sociocultural, Ethnotheories.
2. Biosocial development: Body changes (size, sleep, reflexes, gross and fine motor movements/activity, coordination, brain development, senses, health, nutrition, reference or comparison to motor developmental milestones. Refer to textbook reading that focuses on Biosocial Development.
3. Cognitive development: stage of sensorimotor intelligence, object permanence, affordances, assimilation/accommodation, movement and people, problem-solving, processing of information, interaction with environment (Piaget), use of materials, memory, curiosity and exploration. Refer to textbooks reading that focus on Cognitive Development.
4. Language development: listening & responding, development of spoken language, vocabulary, parts of speech, grammar; theories of language learning, other communication. Refer to textbook reading that focuses on Psychosocial Development.
5. Describe any guidance strategies and other interactions that adults utilized to promote children’s physical, social-emotional, cognitive, and language development.
6. Describe how the physical environment was arranged and equipped to promote children’s physical, social-emotional, cognitive, and language development.
Whether shaped into castles, dug, dripped, sifted, or buried, sand can take many different forms, thus offering endless opportunities for fun and learning!
Allowing your child to play in the sand by themselves and
with others helps them to develop fine motor skills like those necessary to use a small shovel, pull a truck, and build a castle or moat. By burying themselves in sand, and feeling their body position within the sand, children are engaging their proprioceptive sense, or the sense of their body relative to space. Writing words in the sand offers a chance to develop language skills. Parents can ask questions to capitalize on the language play that can occur in the sand.
Play can also help children develop social skills like problem solving, sharing, and communicating. Sand play offers a limited amount of space and toys for children to share while accomplishing goals they set for themselves like building a castle together.
One of the benefits of a contained space like a sandbox is that depending on the age of their child, caregivers can supervise children from a short distance and create an independent play experience. This type of natural and casual separation between parent and child can build trust and confidence. As long as children continue to feel safe and are not under the impression they’ve been left behind, brief independent play opportunities can lessen separation anxiety and promote healthy parent-child attachment.
Sand play is particularly beneficial for developing a sense of textures. Not only is sand a new and different texture for children to feel on their skin, but the contrast it creates with concrete, grass, dirt, and wood will emphasize the sensation of each surface.
Before any outdoor activity, it’s necessary to take certain precautions, and we’ve outlined some safety tips for sand play below. Though there are legitimate reasons to be concerned about the healthiness of sand play, the potential social and developmental positives of unstructured outdoor play like at the beach or in a sandbox outweigh the risks.
Sand play and casual separation between parent and child can build trust and confidence. As long as children continue to feel safe and are not under the impression they’ve been left behind, brief independent play opportunities can lessen separation anxiety and promote healthy parent-child attachment. Sand play is particularly beneficial for developing a sense of textures . Not only is sand a new and different texture for children to feel on their skin, but the contrast it creates with concrete, grass, dirt, and wood will emphasize the sensation of each surface.
If your children come home from preschool filthy from head to toe every day, that’s could be a sign they’ve been engaging in sandplay. It’s also a sign they’ve been learning!
Sand play benefits children in so many ways, it should be a regular activity in their lives.
A friend commented the other day that every time she fetched her daughter from school she found her in the sandpit. “At least she’s having fun,” she commented.
“And learning huge amounts,” I responded, to which she gave me a puzzled look and said “Really?”
This got me thinking. Parents know their children are learning at preschool but, since childhood learning is so well disguised as pure fun, they may not realize just how much learning is happening during play.
“Having fun” is not a break from learning – it is learning!
Children are not only learning during theme discussions, or when learning numbers and letters. They are in fact learning non-stop during play. During the first 6 years, they learn more maths in the sandpit and the bath than they do in a lesson on numbers.1. Number Concept
Your child does not develop a concept of numbers when they start learning formally in kindergarten or Grade 1. This concept has been developed in play, long before they can understand that the symbol 1 stands for one item.
When a child makes a mud pie, they develop an understanding of one object (as well as no objects). They can conceptualize that their friend also has one object.
Perhaps a friend joins and they decide to make another mud pie – one for each of them. This is called one-to-one correspondence and is necessary to be able to learn to count reliably.
They then start to make multiple objects. When one collapses or gets broken down, there is now one less. They compare how many objects they have with how many their friends have.
This is called incidental mathematical learning. They don’t really know they are analyzing the amount but do it naturally.
By the time a child learns numbers formally, they should have had enough play experiences that they are then able to hold an abstract idea of, for example, 2 + 3. This comes from many years of play!
Without understanding what numbers actually represent, the numbers themselves are meaningless.
Children also learn to compare, analyze and measure things informally in the sandpit.
Capacity is one of the major early maths concepts that is learned in the sandpit.
The act of pouring sand (or water) in and out of containers gives children a thorough understanding of volume and capacity. Simply by adding some containers, buckets or measuring cups, your child will experiment and learn.
Through play, children develop skills such as:
The sandpit is one big box of scientific discovery for children.Not only are they digging and excavating to find things that are buried, but they are also discovering the various layers and how the sand changes as they dig deeper – just like the earth.
The sand at the top is warm and dry, whereas it gets compact, colder and moister as you go down towards the bottom. They discover the properties of sand and water through exploration.
Children also explore different materials, both natural and man-made, and learn how things work and how they impact one another.
Fine motor development refers to the small muscles of the body, especially the finger muscles. When they are well developed, children will be able to control a pen or pencil and write when they start formal schooling.
In the sandpit, children are able to work on their finger muscle strength and control, especially when digging sand with their fingers, shaping sand and mud into shapes and putting fine details into their creations – e.g. placing small twigs (candles) in their mud “birthday cake.”
Eye-hand coordination is very important when playing sports, writing and doing many activities.When children play with toys in the sand, they develop this skill as they need their hands and eyes to work together to be able to create and build.
A simple task such as shovelling sand into a bucket with a small spade requires much concentration and coordination.
The early years are the time when hand-eye coordination should be formed, making activities such as playing a ball game or cutting out a detailed picture easier during primary school.
Just as the small muscles get stimulated during sand play, the large muscles do as well.
While playing in a sandpit, children make movements such as digging, scooping, pouring, pushing and lifting.
These gross motor movements work the large muscles and strengthen the child’s body. They develop an awareness of their body in the sandpit and how they can use their body to accomplish tasks.
The sandpit is the perfect place for a child to further develop their vocabulary. It is also a good opportunity for a parent or teacher to verbalize what the child is doing, thereby teaching new vocabulary.
While children are exploring and discovering, they learn new concepts (many of which are mathematical) such as fill up, more, less, another one, empty, full, etc.They also verbalize what they are doing, such as telling their friend about the ramp they are building for their cars to drive up.
While children play, they are constantly solving problems. These real-life problems that need solutions form the basis for all kinds of problem-solving throughout school, including solving mathematical word problems.Children need to understand that there are factors at play and that a solution must be thought up in order to reach the desired outcome.
When a child’s mud cake crumbles when it gets turned out of the cup, he needs to rethink the sand and water proportions. Or when a child is finding a way to build a ramp for the trucks to pass along, she may need to use more utensils as a base to hold it up.
At this stage, children are not seeing problems the way adults do. Rather, they are seeing challenges and doing everything possible to remove them and succeed.
Sand play is creative play. Have you ever seen a 4-year old sit in a sandpit and create nothing?
From a completely blank canvas of sand and some toys, children are constantly creating new structures, objects, ways of transporting and moving sand, and new things to do with the substance.
Their minds are constantly on the go thinking of new fun ways to create.
Children are creators by nature. Whatever you give them – sand, water, paper, playdough, anything – they will create something out of it.
The sand also provides an opportunity to create freely, without an adult asking for a specific outcome, as they might with a guided art activity. This means every creation gives the child a feeling of success and accomplishment.
Social Skills
The sandpit is a place of much collaboration and discussion, especially at school. It is the perfect place for building social skills. Children have to manage sharing tools and spaces, and they often choose to build and play together.
Additionally, children to early physics concepts like motion and flowing water. Children have the opportunity to make predictions about what objects will sink in the water and which items will float. Sand and water areas introduce discussions about living and non-living items, as well as animal habitats. Language Development : The sand and water areas of the classroom are wonderful environments to create conversations. Young children typically play together in these areas, develop intricate pretend play ideas, and ask one another questions. These areas also give the teachers plenty of opportunities to talk to.
for children to have unstructured play time . Whether shaped into castles, dug, dripped, sifted, or buried, sand can take many different forms, thus offering endless opportunities for fun and learning! Allowing your child to play in the sand by themselves and with others helps them to develop fine motor skills like those necessary to use a small shovel, pull a truck, and build a castle or moat.
By burying themselves in sand, and feeling their body position within the sand, children are engaging their proprioceptive sense, or the sense of their body relative to space. Writing words in the sand offers a friends, as it’s a wonderful place for cooperative play and socialisation.
How sand benefits children Playing in a sand pit is a great way for children to build a number of different skills, both physical and social. Sand play is very tactile, and helps children learn about textures and develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Here are some other skills you may not have realised that sand play promotes. Language development: Communicating with other children, describing play activities, listening. Creativity skill-building: Moulding shapes and objects, making patterns, raking, drawing designs.