Introduction to child development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Introduction to child development - Essay Example The first child that I observed was a boy. The boy was aged 8 years, and he lived in a suburban area. The family lived in an apartment, which had a spacious compound used for play and various outdoor activities. The observation took around 10 minutes, and it entailed checking how the child played with his peers and parents. In the first three minutes, the boy was grossly engaged in role-play. In this instance, the boy was pretending to be a pirate who had captured a ship containing treasure loot. The boy together with his friends had turned the table upside-down to be used as the ship. In order to make the event more realistic, he wore costumes that represented a pirate. The ship was captured and all the treasure loot taken by the pirate. After the pirate had taken the loot, he sank the ship using bombshells. The children made the sound of the bombs and the pirate was chanting victory songs. The children in the â€Å"captured ship† fell down to symbolize the capsizing of the bombed ship. The â€Å"pirate† was seen to be very happy after a successful mission. However, a few seconds later, government authorities appeared and arrested the pirate for causing havoc to sea-travellers. Immediately, the mood of the pirate changed to sadness to illustrate the loss of the treasure loot. In the next three minutes, the boy in a group of others began playing dance revolution. In this game, the boys competed against each other for who could dance better. Each boy was given thirty seconds to show his skills. A popular song was played, and each boy was supposed to dance to the tune of the song. Though sophisticated, each child was seen to be enjoying what was happening. The winner of the event was given a dummy cup. The boy isolated himself from the group designing a house using sticks and pieces of paper. The manner in which the boy designed the house was amazing. He created the blueprint and began putting the sticks in their right place. However, the boy left what he was doing immediately and went to the backyard. In the last two minutes, the boy went to play with his parent (father). The father of the boy was painting a picture in the backyard. The child took his drawing book and crayons and began imitating what the father was doing. It is evident from the observation that the child was particularly keen to what the father was doing. The ease of use of the crayons on the drawing book indicated a considerable growth of the child in terms of fine motor skills. From the observations, it seemed that the child was very comfortable both when playing alone and with others. In all the plays, the boy showed some level of sophistication in the way he played and interacted with the group and his father . The second child was a girl aged six years. The girl also lived in a suburban area and just like the first child; they lived in an apartment that possessed a spacious compound. Like in the first case, the girl was observed for close to ten minutes and it involved checking how the girl played, that is, alone and with others. The girl child was deeply involved in playing with her doll. For a better part of the observation time, the girl remained in one place. At the first, the girl was seen bathing the doll. It is important to state that the girl even checked the temperature of the bath water to see if it was optimal for bathing the doll. Immediately after bath, the girl combed the hair of the doll and made small braids on the doll’s head. Though the braids were not very good, the girl showed some level of skill probably acquired from the parent. The doll was dressed in neat clothes, and it was placed on its beds. After a minute, the girl picked the doll and began cooing the child as if it was crying. After the â€Å"supposed child† had slept, the girl was seen making some food for either her or the doll. At this stage, the girl went to pick something (ice cream) from the kitchen. The girl picked the