Child Observation Reeport
TODDLER OBSERVATION REPORT
I chose to observe my friend’s son who is two years and six months old. He is two feet, ten inches tall and weights 31 pounds. He is from a white middle class family and appears to be a healthy child with no physical or mental ailment. His fictitious name is Jason.
I arrived at their house at 1:00 pm on 10/08/2008, where I found him sitting down and playing with a truck. He looked up at me and kept on playing with his toy. I then lowered myself to his height under the table and started playing the game ‘peek-a-boo’; this broke the ice. He started to smile and play ‘peek-a-boo’ back at me.
I observed him for a two-hour period at indoor activities. My observation allowed me evaluate his fine and gross motor skills as well as his emotional and intellectual development. I engaged him in play using different kinds of toys included building blocks, colored and shaped blocks, including those with corresponding holes and a motorized elephant that blew butterflies into the air. I used a video camera to capture his behavior for the entire observation period.
The first phase of my observation in this area was watching him open the each of the boxes from where the toys were located. At one point, he asked his mother for the scissors; pointing to the drawer where she usually place them. He began trying to open the boxes but he had a problem applying force to use the scissors. He knew how to cut but did not have the strength to adequately maneuver the scissors. He managed to make a hole about an inch long. He then took his newly acquired skill and applied it to a candy bar wrapper, which he successfully opened using the scissors. After, he again demonstrated his fine motor skills by building a tall tower using blocks.
After a while I decided to try and play with Jason using the motorized elephant toy. The objective of this game is to collect or catch the most paper butterflies using a hand-held mesh net. Air is blown through...
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