Observation Template

Background Information

Person’s age: Early Childhood aged 3-5

Fictitious I will call the child “Eli”. (The name has been changed for privacy

Name: purposes.)

Location: A childcare facility in Taylorsville

Brief Observation of a young boy playing with his toys and interacting with the

Description: other children in the care center.

Biological Development

Eli is a young boy with a somewhat slender build. He is noticeably taller than most of the

other kids that he is playing with which means his growth is on track. His limbs are longer and

he is definitely losing his protruding belly, round face and large head. Eli looks very lean. His

lower body is lengthening and his fat is giving way to muscle. He is still somewhat awkward,

seeing as how is still figuring out his body. Changing proportions enable new achievements

(Berger, 2016 pg. 158). Eli still, however has a little bit to grow. His adult like body proportions

will continue to fill out as he gets older.

 Although Eli does not have any snacks throughout the observation, it looks as though he

is well nourished and is getting the nutrients that he needs on a day to day basis. That being said,

Eli does not look obese either. As of 2012, 8% of 2-5 year olds in the United States were obese

(Ogden et al., 2014). You can tell Eli comes from a somewhat well off home because families

with little money are more likely to have bad family eating habits (Berger, 2016 pg. 158).

Eli is still developing his fine motor skills (Berger, 2016 pg. 159). Throughout the

duration of the video, you see him building with Legos, making towers, and connecting blocks.

He is very focused on these things and is using his hands very frequently. His attention span and

dedication is somewhat lacking. Eli moves on from one activity to another and is floating from

friend to friend. If he is not satisfied with the way something is going, he moves on to a new

activity and quickly forgets whatever he was just doing, leaving it in the past.

Cognitive Development

A concept from the textbook that was demonstrated in the observation of Eli was the

Maturation of the Prefrontal Cortex (Berger, 2016, pg. 161) Since this maturation is gradual, it

was not as obvious as some of the other concepts. However, Eli gave some queues, signals and

examples that aided alongside the fact that his Prefrontal Cortex was developing and maturing.

In the observation, you see Eli get firm with the other children he is playing with in order to tell

them what he wants to play with or how he wants them to do things, but you never see him throw
a temper tantrum. This is evidence that his Prefrontal Cortex is developing. His ability to control

his outbursts of laughter and tears also supports this claim.

Another concept that was demonstrated in this observation was Eli’s impulsiveness and

his perseveration. Throughout observing Eli, you could tell that he had poor impulse control. He

was very flighty from one activity to the next and the second he got bored he was moving on to

the next game or even friend. However, this is no reason to worry. “It is normal for young

children to be neurologically unbalanced, with poor impulse control. They might flit from one

activity to another, unable to stay quietly on one task” (Berger, 2016, pg. 163).

Something that I noticed throughout Eli’s observation was his display of animalism, or

“the belief of many young children that natural objects (such as trees or clouds) are alive and that

nonhuman animals have the same characteristics as human ones” (Berger, 2016, pg. 165). Eli

would pick up toys and fly them around and make noises as if they were real or had human like

qualities.

Psychosocial Development

Eli showed signs of great emotional regulation. He did not have any emotional outbursts

of temper, terror, or tears. I could tell that Eli was very independent and had a strong self-

concept, or an idea of who he is. He seemed very independent and the children seemed to flock

towards him. B y age 6, Eli should be able to describe some of his characteristics,

including what emotions they feel and how they express them (Berger, 2016, pg. 194). The way

Eli will express his anger and sadness will vary from other children and a large part of that has to

do with his culture and family dynamic.

 Pride and prejudice was another concept that I felt as though Eli was displaying. From the

looks of it, Eli was the largest (tallest) one in the class and it seemed as though he knew it. He

was very proud of who he was and was doing whatever he pleased and was playing with

whatever toys he wanted to.

Motivation was a strong concept that stuck out to me. Motivation is the impulse that

propels someone to act. It comes either from a person’s own desires or from the social context

(Berger, 2016, pg. 196). I felt like Eli showed more signs of intrinsic motivation than extrinsic.

He was playing with whatever he wanted and it was for nothing else than because he felt like it.

It made him happy and he didn’t necessarily care what the other children in the class did.

Intrinsic motivation is more evident in childhood so Eli is on the right track. He is not conceded

or self-centered in any way, just simply doing what he wants to do for the sole purpose of

making himself happy.

Reference

Berger, K. S. (2019). Invitation to the life span. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.