PACIFIC OAKS COLLEGE

Pasadena, California

A HD 311 Play Across the Lifespan: Observation Paper 1

DIANA LISSETTE CAMPOS

Faculty:
Professor Melissa Pinkham
Spring 2017
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Observation #1

This first observation was conducted on Saturday February 18th at Gladstone Park

located in the city of Azusa between 11-12 o’clock. It is a very quiet day; there are no cars

passing and the only sound is of children talking and laughing. Walking into the park the first

thing that can be seen is a giant orange and blue jungle gym. There is also a swing area,

basketball courts, and handball courts. At that time period there were 6 children raging between

the ages of 4 to 8. There were 3 different adults spread out in the background located in the

picnic area.

In a distance there are two children, both boys, running towards the swings. One is able

to hop onto the swings with no problem. The other is struggling and continuously jumping but

cannot seem to properly get on. He motions towards the other boy as the boy jumped off the

swing and tries to help the other boy as best as he could. Both boys looked puzzled as they hear a

bell ring. Their eyes look straight up as they see a girl ringing a bell on the highest tower in the

jungle gym. The look at each other for a split second as they run towards her. They begin to

climb and the first tower had a boy and a girl on it.

They were standing and getting ready to slide down as both boys pointed up towards the

bell. The boy and the girl didn’t pay much attention to the bell as they turned and continued to

head toward the slides. Both boys continued for the stairs to get to the bell. They finally climbed

to the very top and reached the girl with the bell. The older boy of the two pointed as he said and

repeated, “bell,” the girl looked at him and at the bell. With a huge smile on her face she rang the

bell and showed it to the boys.

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The three of them began to pretend play. The girl leaned over the rail as she rang her bell

and the older boy put he hands together, looking through them as though they were a set of

binoculars. That boy pointed in the distance as the was another child playing alone on a rocker

that was shaped as an airplane. The other 2 children continued to go up and down the slide, not

paying any attention to the children on the higher tower. The 3 children on the higher tower

continued to play with each other but, this time the girl let the older boy ring the bell. The

youngest boy wanted to ring the bell too as he reached to snatch it from the older boy. The older

boy held the bell high up to the sky and on his tippy toes so the younger boy could not reach.

The younger boy began to cry and the girl looked at him and at the older boy. She patted

the younger boy as she held out her hand towards the older boy. He gave her back her bell as she

handed it to the younger boy. He smiled and wiped his tears. He began ringing the bell multiple

times as he hugged the girl. She took her bell back and the all began to rush to the slides. They

went down the slides and ran together up the towers to reach the very top.

The lonely child stepped off the rocker and headed over to the tower. Both children

continued to go on the slides as they noticed the young boy. They looked at him puzzled as the

girl spoke to him. They started to play together as the children on the op tower heard them

laughing. They climbed down to figure out what was going on. The youngest boy had said play

and they decided to join in on the game. All 6 children were playing together and it seemed as

though each person had their own job in this game of pretend. Time and play continued but it

was time for some (2) of the children to go home.

At first the children waved to one another to say goodbye and the play continued. As

more started started to leave (3), there was only one left. He had the park to himself and he
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played alone without any interruption. But, then he looked into the distance and just went with

his parent and said he was done playing. He began to yawn and with a drowsy look gave the

body language that he was sleepy and wanted to leave. More children began to show up

(different children) but this little boy was done playing for the day.

As I look back at my notes and reflect my observation, I realize, physically all the

children seemed to be healthy and were able to keep up with one another. Throughout their play

the children demonstrated pretend play and problem solving. Just as Jean Piaget had mentioned

in his second stage of cognitive development, which, mentions kids learn through pretend play.

Lev Vygotsky mentions problem solving skills and play in his theory when discussing

imaginative play. Those skills were demonstrated when the young child was crying and the girl

took the initiative to problem some the conflict and help him feel better.

Which brings me to Erik Erikson’s stage 3 in his psychosocial theory, which is initiative

vs. guilt. This is the play stage and is more common for children between the ages of 3 to 5. This

theories are constantly put into practice as children learn and grow through the concept of play.

As they play they also discover a sense of identity that shapes who they are; just as George

Herbert Mead mentioned in his theory that states children go through certain stages as they

develop a sense of self. Play and all the theories based on play are a vital role in every situation.

All 6 children demonstrated a different theory as they played with each other and even just near

each other.

Throughout this observation the children would gradually interact with one another some

verbally and some with body language; however, this time there was no adult involvement. I’ve

seen when adults interact with children at the park but this time it was nonstop freeplay. They all
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communicated with one another and some even included others. The only diversity between the

children were their ages; they were all hispanic.

In conclusion, I observed 6 children at Gladstone Park in Azusa. They were all between

the ages of 4 to 8 and in their own way they all got along with one another. They played for as

long as they could and continuously pretended. There are different theories that label the stages

but through all that we can learn how vital and important play is.