Observing is closely watching the behavior of and meticulously listening to the child. Before you start with the other Playing-2-gether skills, you have to take the time to watch the child. You can keep the following questions in mind when observing the child:
– how long does it take before the child starts playing?
– which activity does the child choose?
– why do you think that the child has chosen for this activity in particular?
– how does the child act during the first minutes of the activity?
– does the child act differently from when you normally see him in class?
– try to notice something regarding the child that you had not noticed before
– how do you feel? How do you feel towards the child?
There is no need to take notes or run over each and every point. It is more important that you learn to understand the child better. This way, you can follow the child’s play better.
Next, you can watch video fragments where the teachers of our project observing the behavior of the children in their classroom.
These videos are financed by the EU Erasmus+ grant. Authors are responsible for the content.
Observing Parking wagons
Teacher Anja observes the play of Emir (3½ yrs old). She looks carefully what Emir is doing with the train wagons and the parking garage, by just being silent. In this way, she doesn’t disturb his concentration and she gets to know Emir better.
What do you notice about Emir’s play with the wagons? What is his focus?
Observing Cooking
How often do you take a moment to ‘just observe’ when you play with children? Do you feel comfortable during moments of silence?
Observing playing with duplo
Teacher Dagmar observes the play of Yohan (6 yrs. old). She sits opposite to him and looks at him while he is playing with duplo cubes, he builds a car. She pays attention to him without interrupting him. At one moment he wants to show her a car.
How often do you take a moment to ‘just observe’ when you play with children?