Observation of a Playground

   It was play time when I arrived at my grandson’s preschool. It was a nice day so all the children played outside. My grandson played like a madman. He first started out climbing on the jungle gym; he climbed all the way to the top. My grandson is four years old and thinks he is the leader of the pack. After the jungle gym he and a couple other boys jumped around and they tried to balance on one foot while holding the other one with their hand. They swung their arms around like a windmill trying to keep their balance. They only succeeded at this for a couple seconds at a time. They soon got bored and my grandson moved on the swing. The swing is a seat swing and holds about three kids at a time. He patiently waited his turn and joined two other kids on the swing.  After the swing he joined a group of kids playing “super hero”. They acted out Spiderman and Superman and they definitely had very active imaginations. While playing the “super hero game”, he started to run down the sidewalk, and running is not allowed on the side walk, but it was too late to remind him, he fell and skinned his knee. He got hurt, and ran to me because he started to cry. I consoled him and the teacher and I took him inside the classroom to doctor him up. After his attachment to me wore off, he started playing with his “girlfriend”. He grabbed her hand compassionately and helped her climb on the jungle gym. It was very sweet to see him treat the girl differently from the boys. He was more delicate with her. Soon after, it was time to go inside the classroom. He noticed he got his new outfit dirty and was a little upset and concerned. He is very particular about his clothes, especially new ones.

   The children were communicating with each other through play. In my observation this week I watched as the kids patiently (some more than others) stood in line, waiting to swing on the swing. It was a swing that held three children, one got on and one got on. I watched as the children made up games to play and pretend they were “Spiderman and Superman”. They definitely do not lack in the imagination category. They all acted out characters in their little play group. Also, a couple of children became distracted by something else going on in another part of the playground and decided to leave the “super hero” group. The children also communicated not only verbally, but with their bodies and body language.