Social Play Observation

On February 19th and 28th I was able to observe play in Ms. Maclachlan’s kindergarten class. In this class the children in this class were around 5 years old. The first observation on the 19th was located in their gym there were a mix of the class I was observing and 3 to 4 year olds and around 30 kids total. In the gym there was a number of materials from large noodle, bikes, tunnel like structures, and even books. The gym was also split up using cone to create an individual space for the bikes and a reading center. The second observation took place in their normal classroom with only the one class of about 16 children. This room once again had individual areas for the different activities or play the children could part take in. Some examples

While observing I was able to observe all of the types of social play except for cooperative-competitive play. This type of play is described as play activities patterned towards team victory and is common for ages 7-8 years old. It is likely that because the children I observed were 5 years old they haven’t developed enough to want to do that type of play. Although types of social play I observed the most were associative, cooperative, and parallel. In parallel play the children play side by side with out interaction. I observed this in the gym with children collecting noodles but not interacting with one another. One of the other types is associative play during this type of play children paly together sharing and form groups. An example of this type I observed was together 2 children throw a ball back and forth, sharing the ball. Also, there is Cooperative play this type is more complex it involves group play with the division of labor and shared common goals. I observed cooperative play when a few children created a fort with blocks imagining it is was a smoothie shop and the wooden cylinders are smoothies for sale. One child tells another he will sell the smoothie and the other will make them. They have a common goal of selling the smoothies. Another type I observe was solitary play and I observed this more in the gym with the younger 3-4 year olds. I observe one child that was content sitting on the side playing with a ball by