2-24-10

Observation times: Children's Center 2-22 2:00-3:00pm & 2-24 2:00-3:00pm

I have been trying to really pay attention to the type of play that children engage in while working at the Children's Center and I have noticed some very interesting things. Earlier in the semester I had been in the block areas with some of the boys at the Children's Center. They were building a boat out of blocks. While I was playing with them, I was offering suggestions of different things they could add while still keeping a distance so that they were the ones in control of the building. They invited me into their play and I became the controller of the rudder for the boat. We had a fun time pretending the boat was going and stopping while I would turn or not turn the "rudder." This week I was walking past the block area where the same boys were again building a boat. I heard one of the boys suggest to another worker that she be the one to make the boat go. I could tell that the worker wasn't exactly sure what the boy was talking about. I found it really interesting how the boy's play was changed after our interaction and how he continued to adapt his play to those changes. It is interesting how play changes and adapts and how even the smallest interactions can affect play.

I was not there are the time, however, one of the preschool teachers was excited to tell me about how she allowed a boy to take on the role of teacher for a while in the morning group. As the teacher, the boy really imitated what he experienced in his daily life at the preschool. The teacher had become one of the students while the boy played teacher and she purposely did silly things that she often sees the preschoolers do like lay down during circle time. The boy looked at her and said "If you are going to lay down, I'm going to make you go on your cot." The teacher joked about how much the child had really picked up on things that he had heard. In just hearing this I immediately thought of the readings we have done and how it is explained how a child's play is often used to make sense of the world around them. This rang true in this situation because the boy was reenacting the things that he experienced but he took on a different role. It was especially interesting because this particular boy is one who is working with the teacher about some behaviors that she would like to see changed. I think that it is really true that children use play to better understand and take control of their world.