Observation #1

Class/secti
on:
Name:
Assignmen
t:

FHS 1500-404
Randy Golding
Observation 1

Background
Childs age:
Fictitious
name:
Location:
Brief
Description:

Information
Toddler 2 years old
Steve
XXX Child Care on XXX Road and XXX Street
There were two adults, and multiple children in a daycare.
The children were playing at different activity centers.

Physical Development
I first noticed that Steve used gross motor skills while he was playing
with toys. Steve would pick toys up with his hands from a bucket and then
place the toys back into the bucket. Steve grabbed a ball and tried putting it
into his mouth, but it was too large to fit. I observed him stand up and walk
and run using his motor skills, which are The learned abilities to move some
part of the body, in actions ranging from a large leap to a flicker of the
eyelid (Berger, 2014, p. 103). I noticed that Steve was playing in a tub of
water and was using a small scooper to scoop water into a bottle. It
appeared to me that Steve was in the beginning phase of learning to use
some fine motor skills, which are Physical abilities involving small
movements, especially of the hands and fingers, such as drawing and picking
up a coin (Berger, 2014, p. 104).
Steve was playing on a slide and would use his gross motor skills to
climb up the steps to slide down the slide. Steve also was able to walk up the
slide face without falling. Gross motor skills are Physical abilities involving
large body movements, such as walking and jumping (Berger, 2014, p.
103). Steve was always in motion and moving around, mostly by walking. As
noted in the text book, once toddlers start walking, they practice
obsessively, no matter where they are or what they are doing. They average
between 500 and 1,500 walking steps per hour so that by the end of each
day, they have taken 9,000 walking steps and traveled the length of 29
football fields (Adolph et al., 2003, p. 494).
Cognitive Development

Steves cognitive development seemed to be where he should be.

While he was playing in the tub of water, he wanted to drink the water. His
care giver told him not to drink the water. He stopped himself from putting
the water in his mouth and dumped the water back out into the tub. I noticed
when Steve was playing on the slide, he watched other children playing as
well. Steve was using the steps to climb to the top, after he watched other
children climb up the slide, he imitated them and walked up the slide. They
learn from many people and eventsfrom parents and strangers, from other
babies and siblings, from picture books and family photographs (Berger,
2014, p. 119).
Steve was playing with some bug toys and some of them fell behind
some furniture. He sat down on his knees and began to look around the
furniture and reached around objects to locate the toys that he couldnt see.
Piaget has a theory about cognition in the first two years, which is
sensorimotor intelligence. Sensorimotor intelligence has six stages (Berger,
2014, p. 114). Steve showed actions that would be considered stage six,
new means through mental combinations: considering before doing, which
provides the child with new ways of achieving a goal without resorting to
trial-and-error experiments (Berger, 2014, p. 115).
Social/Emotional Development
Steves emotional development is right on track for his age. One of the
first things I observed is his social smile when he looked at a caregiver in the
room. What stood out the most for me was his temperament, which is
Inborn differences between one person and another in emotions, activity,
and self-regulation. It is measured by the persons typical responses to the
environment (Berger, 2014, p. 137). Steve was very easy going and chill. I
watched as another child was sliding down the slide and took Steves legs
out from underneath him. Steve fell forward onto the ground. He got up and
just walked away and didnt even think twice about being hit to the ground. I
noticed many children were screaming and yelling and Steve didnt try to
imitate the other childrens behavior and stayed calm.
During my entire observation of Steve, I never noticed him have any
attachment issues. Steve was pretty independent and never clung to any
particular caregiver or peer. In the textbook it states that 8 month to 2 years
old, it is common for children to show some separation anxiety when the
caregiver leaves. (Berger, 2014, p. 143). Steve showed secure attachment
which means he felt comfortable and confident in his relationship. (Berger,
2014, p. 143).
While I observed Steve to be pretty independent, I also noticed him
playing and interacting with his peers. I noticed Steve emulate other children
on a couple different occasions. When Steve tried pouring water into a bottle
from a scooper, he had watched another child do it right before he

attempted it. When Steve was playing on the slide, I noticed that he was
watching another child slide down on his stomach and feet first. Up to this
point Steve had only slid down the slide on his butt. After Steve watched the
other child slide down on his stomach with feet first, he tried doing the same
thing. The text book calls this social learning, which is the acquisition of
behavior patterns by observing the behavior of others (Berger, 2014, p.
151).
Reference List
Berger, K. S. (2014). Invitation to the life span (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.
Adolf, Karen E., Vereijken, Beatrix, & Shrout, Patrick E. (2003). What changes
in infant walking and why. Child Development, 494.