Childcare Development

Immediate context:
This observation took place within my kitchen/dining room. TC was sat at the kitchen table, looking at all the paints on the table. Her mother is sat at the kitchen counter watching the TC play. Whilst all the other children are also looking at all the other items on the table and they are discussing what colours to use.

Brief description of the child observed:
The TC observed is a female, aged 2 and 9 months. She has 2 older sisters, one aged 4 and the other sister aged 6. The TC goes to a childminder 3 days a week and her older sisters attend the same school together. She is a quiet, happy child.

Aim of observation:
The aim of this activity is to observe the TC for 10 minutes, whilst carrying out a painting activity to assess her overall developmental and learning needs.

Rationale:
I feel it is important to observe children so you can learn more about them from an outside perspective, and to be able to help plan activities to help with their development and learning needs. This will then help me plan suitable play activities for TC that will best meet her needs.

Method:
Narrative

Media used:
Pen & Paper

Observation

TC is sitting on the chair to the right of the kitchen table, next to K, C and E are the opposite side. TC is holding a sponge figure of a flower in her left hand and in the right she is holding another sponge in the shape of an owl. She is looking at her mother and saying red, whilst trying to point down at the plate where each individual child has paint left on a plate. C snatches the owl sponge from TC and TC starts to moan and shout at C. Parent says to C ‘give that back to TC as she chose that first’.

Parent then asks TC ‘what are you going to paint, and what colours will you use?’ TC shouts ‘red and a house’. TC puts down the sponges and puts her fingers in the yellow paint, parent asks TC ‘what colour have you on your finger?’ TC pauses looks at the colours on the plate, and then on her finger, TC responds ‘I don’t know’, parent then goes over to TC and points to every colour on the plate whilst saying each colour and TC almost matches parent with the correct colours as she says it, TC says this laughing. TC then picks up the flower sponge and soaks it in the red paint, she puts it on to the paper but its not a clear flower shape, so she puts it back down on the paper, and again the flower shape isn’t visible and with this TC is getting a little annoyed and mixes the sponge around the plate with all the colours on which then makes the plate black in colour. K says to TC to stop as she wont have any colours to continue painting, parent goes over to TC and tells her ‘your not to do that, all the bright colours aren’t there anymore and you cant mix all the colours together as you wont be able to paint your red house!’

C and E are painting still with their fingers, whilst K has now gone to the toilet to wash her hands as she has finished her paintings and would like to do another activity. TC then asked parent for more paints, parent keeps most of the black paint on the plate but adds yellow and blue to a corner of the plate where TC can use these without mixing them again. Parent then says to TC ‘Can you make me that red house now with some flowers outside?’ E and TC both get excited and decide they are both going to do a picture like that. Parent asks all the children ‘What are your favourite colours?’ TC shouts ‘Red’, E says ‘purple’, K and C say ‘yellow’. TC then shouts ‘finished’, she then holds up her painting and says ‘there you go mummy, put it there to dry’. TC then tries to climb off of the chair to get down, parent goes over to her and asks ‘have you finished?’ TC says ‘Yes, can I go outside?’. Parent then asks all the other children if they have finished, all children had apart from C who wanted to carry on painting whilst the other children including TC washed their hands and went outside to play.

Observation Ends.

PLANNING

Planning

My activity is finger painting and sponging, and my aim of this activity is to see how TC interacts and develops taking part in an enjoyable environment with friends and family around her.

I will do this activity by using black card or white paper, 4 coloured paints – blue, red, green & yellow, along with different animal shaped sponges. Preparation needed:

When setting up the finger painting and sponging, I need the following materials;

1. Aprons
2. Table Cover
3. Paper Plates
4. Paints
5. Sponges
6. Water Bowls
7. Wipes
8. Towels

I also have to take into consideration one of the children attending this activity has eczema, the paints that we use are not know to irritate this skin problem and the child’s hands will be washed thoroughly and dried once the activity has finished.

All children will need to have aprons on to protect their clothes; this will be done by me and/or the parent. The children’s hair will need to be tied up so there is no interference.

Step by Step

Preparation – Wash hands & put on aprons
Choose paints & sponges
Black or white card
Finger or sponging
Individual pictures
Hang pictures in an area they can dry
Washing of hands
Drying of hands
Clearing work area

I will do this activity by using black card or white paper, 4 coloured paints – blue, red, green & yellow, along with different animal shaped sponges.

The age range of children will be 2 years to 6 years.

Individual needs for planning are:-
The children in this activity will not need specific individual need or have any sensitive area in which I need to be made aware of.

Allergies:-
One of the children suffers with eczema so I will limit the amount of time to 15 minutes using the finger paints and will make sure the hands are washed thoroughly and the correct procedure is used in caring for the eczema after the activity.

Cleaning facilities:
We have 2 sinks within the area where the ‘activity’ is taking place, along with soap and towels. Wipes will also be on hand for any spillages throughout.

I am carrying out this activity at home and have spoken to the parents of the children who will be partaking as well as a supervisor within our crèche who has given me advice and guidance on how to proceed with this task in the best way. I have written consent from the parents regards to me carrying out this activity and this will then take place with myself and the parent in the room.

IMPLEMENTATION

Implementation

My implementation of this activity is described below:

Preparation needed:

When setting up the finger painting and sponging, I need the following materials;

Aprons
Table Cover
Paper Plates
Paints
Sponges
Water Bowls
Wipes
Towels

I also have to take into consideration one of the children attending this activity has eczema, the paints that we use are not know to irritate this skin problem and the child’s hands will be washed thoroughly and dried once the activity has finished.

All children will need to have aprons on to protect their clothes; this will be done by me and/or the parent. The children’s hair will need to be tied up so there is no interference.

Step by Step

Preparation – Wash hands & put on aprons
Choose paints & sponges
Black or white card
Finger or sponging
Individual pictures
Hang pictures in an area they can dry
Washing of hands
Drying of hands
Clearing work area

I will do this activity by using black card or white paper, 4 coloured paints – blue, red, green & yellow, along with different animal shaped sponges.

The age range of children will be 2 years to 6 years.

Individual needs for planning are:-
The children in this activity will not need specific individual need or have any sensitive area in which I need to be made aware of.

Allergies:-
One of the children suffers with eczema so I will limit the amount of time to 15 minutes using the finger paints and will make sure the hands are washed thoroughly and the correct procedure is used in caring for the eczema after the activity.

Cleaning facilities:
We have 2 sinks within the area where the ‘activity’ is taking place, along with soap and towels. Wipes will also be on hand for any spillages throughout.

I am carrying out this activity at home and have spoken to the parents of the children who will be partaking as well as a supervisor within our crèche who has given me advice and guidance on how to proceed with this task in the best way. I have written consent from the parents regards to me carrying out this activity and this will then take place with myself and the parent in the room.

EVALUATION

Evaluation

The aim of this activity is to observe a female aged 2 years & 3 months for 10 minutes, whilst carrying out a painting activity to assess her overall developmental and learning needs. I feel I have achieved my overall target in doing this and have an understanding of how TC interacts with other children as well as being able to show us, developmentally that she is within the normal range for her age. As well as giving the children a choice of what paints to choose, and what animal sponges they wanted, I feel this gave them more motivation in the activity from the start. William Glasser (in Flood 2013) is a firm believer in giving choices to children in schools and pre-schools and this is key concept of his choice theory.

Developmentally I think TC has shown myself and her parent that she shows great interaction with children of her own age as well as adults, she knows her colours even though it has been difficult for TC to express these fully when asked on several occasions and this was why we wanted to carry out this observation but TC showed us today that she has full knowledge of colours and different items that she could paint whilst using her fingers and sponges and express these as she is painting.

Cognitive development is the emergence of the ability to think and understand1. Cognitive development includes the development of imagination, creativity, memory skills, concentration skills, problem-solving skills and concept formation (Flood 2010) and some of these were definitely evident within this observation. TC used her creativity when deciding on what to paint, her concentration skills when working with the sponge and adding in her fingers to create ‘a house’. Memory skills were also present as she did tell us all the colours of the paint that had been added to her plate, she came across in activities that we have held before that she knew the colours in her head but she always pointed at different ones when asked, for example ‘which one is the red TC?’ and she would point to the green.

I found the TC to get quite upset and irate when she was having problems getting the flower shape of the sponge to appear on the paper, she tried twice and instead of asking for help she started to throw the sponges around the table and at which point she went to throw the plate with the paint on, the parent stepped in and explained to TC she was not to do that or she would be taken away from the situation. When TC realised her actions she said ‘sorry mammy’ straight away and picked up a new sponge. Would what TC showed experience of be the mental process of not getting the exact picture she wanted from pressing the flower into the paint and then adding this to the paper that Piaget described as a progressive reorganisation of mental processes as a result of biological maturation and environmental experience. Accordingly, children construct an understanding of the world around them, and then experience discrepancies between what they already know and what they discover in their environment.

In conclusion to this observation, my aim was to observe a female aged 2 years & 3 months for 10 minutes, whilst carrying out a painting activity to assess her overall developmental and learning needs and this I feel was achieved as I feel TC developmentally carried out all the necessary aspects that we needed her to show within the 10 minute observation and to show us that her learning capacity is very much on par with her age range.

Following up from this activity my role in being a good early years’ practitioner was shown throughout the activity, where I was always on hand for the children, asking and answering any questions the children had on the activity and aswell as making conversations in general. I set up the activity with careful planning before hand, with all relevant equipment needed. My skills that I feel need to improve is rushing the activity along, whereas I should let the activity takes its full role as the children should dictate when they have had enough. Throughout this activity we are trying to assess the overall developmental status of our TC using activities that help her everyday development.

Lev Vygotsky, who has done research and theory in cognitive development over the past several decades, and in particular of what has become known, as Social Development Theory. Vygotsky’s theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development of cognition Vygotsky, 1978, as he believed strongly that community plays a central role in the process of “making meaning.”

Vygotsky and Piaget had different aspects to developmental and social learning, Piaget’s notion that children’s’ development must necessarily precede their learning, Vygotsky argued, “learning is a necessary and universal aspect of the process of developing culturally organised, specifically human psychological function”. In other words, social learning tends to proceed (i.e. come before) development.

EXPLANATION &
EVALUATION

Explanation & Evaluation

Carrying out this activity it was also important to cover the four themes that are covered by Aistear principles and themes that can be found at www.ncca.biz/aistear.

Below outlines the four themes and how my activity of finger painting links all four together making sure the children get the best learning outcomes throughout.

Themes

Theme: Well-being (MORE INFO TO ADD)
Children will
be strong psychologically and
socially
be as healthy and fit as can be
be creative and spiritual
develop positive outlooks on learning and on life

Well being focuses on developing as a person. It has two main elements, psychological well being (including feeling and thinking) and physical well-being. Children’s relationships and interactions with their families and communities contribute significantly to their sense of well-being.

Theme: Identity and Belonging(MORE INFO TO ADD)
Children will
develop strong self-identities and feel respected and affirmed as individuals
have a sense of group identity where links with their family and community are acknowledged and extended express their rights and respect the identity, rights and views of others see themselves as capable Learners

Theme: Communicating(MORE INFO TO ADD)
Children will
develop non-verbal communication skills
use language with growing confidence and competence
make sense of their experiences through language
express themselves creatively and imaginatively

Theme: Exploring and Thinking (MORE INFO TO ADD)
Children will
develop increasingly complex strategies for observing, thinking, exploring, understanding, and problem-solving use symbolic representation
learn about and make sense of the world
develop a positive image of themselves as learners, and come to see themselves as explorers and thinkers5

These themes have been linked into this activity by the following;

I have done a chart to breakdown what part fits in to what themes.