Buddy Boy

Little Man’s Day 2 Observations!

During my day two observations, I was prepared for more cars, trains and cooking. But, when I arrived, it was all new and different stuff that he was interested in showing me. Before we started doing ANYTHING though, I made him tell me his rainbow. 🙂

When I first walked in, he had his plans all ready. First, he wanted to read. But he didn’t REALLY want to read, he wanted to get to the sticker page. When I asked him if I could read the book to him, he said “No, it’s okay. We can just look at the pictures and get a sticker.” That’s when I realized that he was too young to really be interested in the book. He wanted to ask me if I knew the animals and what my favorite one was. He would flip each page for about 20 seconds, looking at the animals and asking if I knew what they were. When we were done going through the book twice, (and getting to the sticker page twice), he decided he was ready to go downstairs and play.

When we got downstairs, I was expecting a comment about playing with cars or trains, but that isn’t what he said at first.

He ran to his train table and showed me that he had cleaned and organized it. He told me the process that he had used to go through all his stuff and where he put everything so it was easier for us to play.

Then, he picked up his “hulk hands” and handed one to me to put on. Next, we threw a ball back and forth. He really focused on catching it, one time he missed and it hit him in the face. Then he decided since I hit him in the face, he had to hit me too. He did it soft, not wanting to hurt me- but to get me back. He threw it at my leg, missing slightly. Then ran to grab the ball before I could get to it, laughing hysterically. After about 4-6 times of him hitting me on the legs, he told me that he had hit me about 20,000 times. I decided that was a reasonable number. 😉 It was really cool to watch and study how he threw the ball, thought about everything. Made fake throws, then threw it to actually hit me.

And last, he ran to me wearing a superman mask and cape. He ran around in his attire, super happy.

My First Little Observations (Calvin)

My first observation was a fun one. It was a very fun and energetic 4 year old boy. He was so excited when I arrived, and was ready to play the second I walked in. He is very energetic so he went from one thing to another. He is very smart though. When first sitting down at his play area, he had many ideas of what he wanted to do. Play with cars, no trains. Now were cooking a waffle, next playing tag. One thing to another, it was fun to observe.The idea of “playing” to Calvin also included learning experiences that he didn’t even know were happening as we were playing with his toys.

The first thing we did was play with cars. I decided to incorporate some colors into it. All of his cars (over 60) were piled together. Upside down, all mixed around. I decided that we should organize them into colors. He didn’t know his rainbow, so we said it a few times in preparation to organize the cars into it. As we were picking out all of the red cars, I asked what was next in the rainbow, and so on. We finally had the cars lined up in order. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Then we added the white, silver, and black onto the end. Now, every time I have seen him after, I make him say his rainbow. It’s not perfect, but he’s way closer than before.

Next, we played with his trains- on his train table. He told me about how he had 3 issues on the track. There were 3 places we couldn’t pass through because they were “broken”. So, as I watched, he would roll his train right up to the issue, then proceed to turn around and find another way around the problem.

Then, he decided he wanted to cook popcorn and waffles in a pan at his kitchen set. Throwing them into the air, flipping them, and pretending to cook. He told me how the popcorn was popping, and asked if I wanted any.

Last, we played tag. Not REAL tag, but the kind where he wants to be chased around. “You can’t get the waffle!” He would yell, as I pretended to chase him around the train table. He then proceeded to jump on the couch. I tickled him until he let loose of the waffle, then ran the opposite direction making him chase me. Then he started to outsmart me. He knew that we were chasing each other for the same thing, so if he grabbed something else and told me I couldn’t get it, the same thing would happen. Next it was popcorn. After I got the popcorn, it was the pan.. And so on.

So, my first observation was good. It was fun. And I learned a lot about how smart kids can actually be at a young age. I am so excited to watch Calvin and learn more about not only him, but how his mind functions.

My Change

I decided that I wanted to change my blogs to a certain child, rather than multiple within a daycare. I have been around this child a lot lately and will continue to be. I want to change because I feel that every child develops at a different rate, and watching more than one can mean different things. Going through steps of a certain child and observing what they do means more focus on that child and what they do.

Baby Steps

The development of children is a long process. Changes that a person undergoes are affected by the environment they are put in not only at home, but their place of care. A vast majority of children go to childcare centers, or daycare. Some even start young, and grow up still going to that same daycare. Children grow slowly, step by step. My goal is to closely observe different age groups of children. Comparing what I have learned, and coming about new ideas.

Little Ones

For my project I want to study childcare. I want to go and observe the environment that they stay in all day. Learn about how much work and time it takes to manage a lot of kids. 

I’m the oldest out of my siblings and all my cousins, so I’ve always loved kids since a young age. I really like being around kids and observing them. I like learning from them and preparing for future experiences. I want to work in an environment where I get to work with many different ages and types of children.

The main part of my project will be pictures on a slideshow. Showing the different things that occur during the day at daycare. Looking at it from a perspective as a daycare owner and handling that much stuff at once.

Visiting the daycare is just the matter of talking to the owner and setting up a time to go in and observe. I might start working at a daycare and if I do, I would like to observe them while working with them and even take a notebook and take notes about some of the big things that I observe. I would either use my camera or my phone to take the pictures. I would like to go in soon to slowly start to observe and have more of a thought process about my subject.