3/2/10

Today I observed at the SNC children's center. The type of play I observed today was not structured play, it was after nap and snack time, so the children were free to play with whatever they liked. I observed four of the children playing with connecting blocks, two boys and two girls. The two girls at first were making towers to see how tall they could get them before they would break and fall to the ground. Later they started to pretend that their straight line of blocks were people, a mother and a daughter. The girl who was playing the daughter was telling her mother that she needed to go to the hospital because she was hurt. Then the other girl who was playing the mother told her to get in the car and they went to the hospital. They continued to play with similar situations. The two boys at the table were playing very differently than the two girls at the table even though they had the exact same toys. The boys were pretending that their blocks were airplanes, cars, and guys who drove the cars. They were more rough with the blocks, making them crash into each other and not taking care of them like the girls were. This observation helped me to actually see how gender can determine the type of play a child participates in. It was very interesting to see, and related a lot to the Children's Play book that talked about gender roles in play. Later during my observation I moved and watched some children play with puzzles. They were using problem solving skills to try and make the pieces fit together. Sometimes they became frustrated and asked me to help them, but with a little guidance they would always figure it out in the end.