Parallel Play In Children

Walking into the children’s museum I saw many things going on, such as children running and playing, parents helping their children, and many different stations where the kids were learning. While standing there, on the main floor, I saw a great big water table where the children were playing with different shapes and toys in the water. Most of the children at the water table were not interacting with one another; they were focused on playing in the water. This is an example of parallel play, in which a child plays near other children with similar materials but does not try to influence their behavior. As I walked further into the museum I saw a child playing on the fire truck all by himself, he looked to be about four years old and once he

One sign was of dual representation, viewing a symbolic object as both an object in its own right and a symbol, while the kids were playing at the doctors’ office I overheard one of the kids say “that’s not real” which indicates that the kids know the doctor office is an object inside of the museum and only represents a real doctors office. I observed many of the parents involved in the development of their child. Some of the parents at the Pinwheels were helping their child by putting toy balls into the pinwheels and another parent helped their child put shapes into the correct slot according to the size. This is an example of scaffolding, which is adjusting the support offered during a teaching session to fit the child’s current level of performance. By allowing the children to play with things at a manageable level of difficulty and directing the child with instructions it helps the child develop exceptional cognitive abilities. At the children’s Museum there were multiple children engaged in make-believe play, which according to Vygotsky, as children create imaginary situations, they learn to follow internal ideas and social rules rather than their immediate impulses, which affects cognitive development. On the lower level, there were many books where the children could read also there were kids playing with letters and words developing their

Still, on the lower level, I noticed a section called “Tot Spot” designed for smaller children. This section allowed toddlers to run, climb, and jump in a safe area; this is a form of gross-motor development. The development of gross-motor skills allows preschoolers’ gaits to become smooth and rhythmic- secure enough that soon they leave the ground, at first by running and later by jumping, hopping, galloping, and skipping. I also noticed puzzles and blocks on the tables and a little girl learning to play with a new toy. Also, on the top floor kids were cutting shapes trying to make a paper rocket, a majority of the older kids knew how to use the scissors but the younger kids did not. These are all examples of Fine motor development, which allows the kids to have control of the hands and finger movements, young children put puzzles together, build with small blocks, cut and paste, and improve in self-help skills. I also saw a variety of drawings and printing. On the lower level, most of the drawings were scribbles, which are common in infants. Some were first representational forms, which are common in toddlers, this is were scribbles start to become pictures their pictures have the universal “tadpole” image, a circular shape with lines attached. Some of the drawings were more realistic, most common in five to six-year-olds, containing more conventional human