Psychology Child Observation
Project #2: Child Observation
February 24, 2011
Observation Write-up:
For this project I observed a 6 year old boy named Michael. Michael is a good
friend of my son Dylan and our families are somewhat close, it had been
sometime since our last visit together when we arranged a play date for the purpose of
this project.
We chose to go up to the mountains to play in the snow. Our two families drove
in separate cars and upon arriving at our destination we greeted each other. The two boys
went right into playing. I remained near the cars and observed as their fathers joined
them in their play.
Michael initiated play by throwing a snowball at Dylan. A snowball fight ensued
and Michael laughed and yelled and ran as he attempted to launch and dodge the balls of
snow. Michael’s father used a trick to get closer to Michael. He casually held a snow ball
and looked off into the distance behind Michael and said, “whoa, is that a bear over
there?” Which then caused Michael to turn his head, giving his dad the perfect
opportunity to strike him with a snowball. Michael then modeled this behavior and used
deception to manipulate Dylan during the fight. He said: “look behind you, a squirrel!”
When Dylan turned his head, he threw the snowball at him.
Then the two dads began to throw snow balls at the boys more intensely. At one
point Michael retreated behind a stump on the perimeter of the field and I observed him
saying to himself, “How did he do that? He got me!” There were a few more times like
this when I observed Michael engaging in a dialogue with himself as well as moments
within the group play where he would entertain himself.
After the parents petered out a bit Michael suggested that he and Dylan play
batman and joker. There were many displays of rough-and-tumble play throughout the
observation period as well. This was observed between the two children, as well as
February 24, 2011
Observation Write-up:
For this project I observed a 6 year old boy named Michael. Michael is a good
friend of my son Dylan and our families are somewhat close, it had been
sometime since our last visit together when we arranged a play date for the purpose of
this project.
We chose to go up to the mountains to play in the snow. Our two families drove
in separate cars and upon arriving at our destination we greeted each other. The two boys
went right into playing. I remained near the cars and observed as their fathers joined
them in their play.
Michael initiated play by throwing a snowball at Dylan. A snowball fight ensued
and Michael laughed and yelled and ran as he attempted to launch and dodge the balls of
snow. Michael’s father used a trick to get closer to Michael. He casually held a snow ball
and looked off into the distance behind Michael and said, “whoa, is that a bear over
there?” Which then caused Michael to turn his head, giving his dad the perfect
opportunity to strike him with a snowball. Michael then modeled this behavior and used
deception to manipulate Dylan during the fight. He said: “look behind you, a squirrel!”
When Dylan turned his head, he threw the snowball at him.
Then the two dads began to throw snow balls at the boys more intensely. At one
point Michael retreated behind a stump on the perimeter of the field and I observed him
saying to himself, “How did he do that? He got me!” There were a few more times like
this when I observed Michael engaging in a dialogue with himself as well as moments
within the group play where he would entertain himself.
After the parents petered out a bit Michael suggested that he and Dylan play
batman and joker. There were many displays of rough-and-tumble play throughout the
observation period as well. This was observed between the two children, as well as