Running Head: CHILD OBSERVATION AND EVALUATION 1

Child Observation and Evaluation

[Name of Student]

[Name of Institution]

[Date]
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Introduction

Concepts of childhood growth stages emerge from many sources. Moreover, the childhood

stages are historically characterized by the customs, social institutions, and laws that develop a

society. The development has three different stages of early childhood, middle childhood, and

adolescence. These descriptions of childhood stages are structured across the primary

development objectives at every stage, although the limits of these phases are malleable. The

views of societies about childhood change with the passage time and research studies have led to

numerous interpretations of the development taking place at each point (Slentz, 2017). In this

study, the child under observation is in early childhood and between 4 to 5 years of age. In this

study, naturalistic observation has been conducted on a student (X) of grade one. The

observation was conducted while he was playing in the play area of his school, in which his

cognitive, psychological and physical activities and gestures were observed closely. The school

is situated nearby my house and it was easy for me to reach the location to observe the child. The

anonymity of the student has been kept secret for the consideration of ethics.

Early Childhood Development Stages

Early childhood reflects a period of enormous growth throughout all developmental fields. The

dependent infant develops into a young individual who can look after his or her own self and

communicate with others efficiently and effectively. For these factors, skill development is the

primary developmental activity of this stage Physically, an infant usually doubles in height and

quadruples in weight between birth and three years of age. physical proportions often change,

such that the baby, whose head accounts for at least one-fourth of the overall length of the

physique, turns a toddler with a more composed, appearance of an adult-like look. The average

three-year-old has learned several skills despite such rapid physical changes, like walking,
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sitting, toilet training, scribbling, using a spoon, and adequate coordination of hand and eye for

catching and throwing a ball (Bourn, Hunt & Hassan, 2017).

Children growth increase steadily between the age of three and five and start to develop good-

motor skills. By the age of five, most kids show pretty good command of pencils, scissors, and

crayons. Gross motor skill may comprise of the ability on one foot to skip and balance. Around

the age of five and eight years, the physical growth of a child slows down, while body

proportionalities and motor skills get more advanced. Bodily changes in early childhood are

followed by quick changes in the development of the child's cognitive and language. From just

the time they are born, children use all the senses to care about their surroundings, and from their

actions and caregiver reactions, they start to develop a sense of cause and effect (Wyver & Little,

2018).

Children develop their own spoken vocabulary of around 300 and 1,000 words over the first

three years after birth and are willing to use language to understand the world around them and

explain it. A child's language can expand to about 1,500 words by the age of five. A five-year-

old child can also generate five-to-seven-word phrases, strive to use the past tense, and tell

common narratives using pictures as indicators. Communication is an important tool for

promoting cognitive skills. using vocabulary helps the child to interact and solve problems with

others (Romeo et al, 2018).

Conclusion

The stages of development are described based on both cultural influences and research.

Implications for learning are derived from what is understood about the development of children,

but it must be noted that growth is affected by context, and learning is a primary childhood
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activity. Child (X) seems a confidant and well-coordinated child who enjoys playing outdoor.

The child (X) ran fast and laugh to show his delight. He leaps with ease and climbs. He shows

spatial cognition as he avoids another child. He also uses alternate foot in an adult manner while

climbing, one at every step. his ball capabilities also grow well. This shows his cognitive,

psychological and physical development. However, instructors and everyone else should be

conscious of how a five-year-old's logic is distinct from fifteen-year-old children, so it is

significantly important to be aware that learning structure and standards affect how children

learn and grow.

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Reference

Bourn, D., Hunt, F., & Hassan, A. (2017). Childhood development stages and learning on global

issues.

Romeo, R. R., Segaran, J., Leonard, J. A., Robinson, S. T., West, M. R., Mackey, A. P., ... &

Gabrieli, J. D. (2018). Language exposure relates to structural neural connectivity in

childhood. Journal of Neuroscience, 38(36), 7870-7877.

Slentz, K. (2017). Early childhood development and its variations. Routledge.

Wyver, S., & Little, H. (2018). Early childhood education environments: affordances for risk-

taking and physical activity in play. In Physical activity and health promotion in the early

years (pp. 41-55). Springer, Cham.

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Appendix

Observation Notes

In this observation a student between 4 to 5 years of age is observed for a short span of time, his

name is (X) and he studies in grade one. The observation starts while he enters the school and

puts on his hat and coat. He steps out of the cloakroom quickly goes into the outdoor play area of

the school. The reception class kids have their very own outdoor play zone in this school so they

can safely use large equipment. (X) has a straight posture of confidence and moves quickly.

He turns toward the frame of climbing and sees nobody there. He moves on his toes easily and

slightly. He laughs while playing, and appears excited. His action was well orchestrated and

deliberate. He quickly sweeps away from another kid running toward him. (X) is seemingly

enjoying moving fast. He enters the frame of climbing and stops. He shows good control as he

abruptly stops. (X) stares at the frame of climbing, and uses alternate feet to ascend the bars,

putting one foot on each step.

No staff member is present near the climbing frame. In case of an accident, I move closer to

supervise him climbing but he grins at me as he gets to the top and climbs on to the slide

effortlessly over the rail. He lies on the slide, then lets the sides slip. He smiles while slipping

down. He falls off the slide at the edge and runs up once more to climb. He repeats that multiple

times.

After some time, he sees some other kids playing with a big ball. He is walking up to them and

asking if he can enter their game. They are in a ring with one kid in the middle who throws the

ball across the circle to named kids. In turn, the child tries to catch the ball and throw it away in

the center to the team. It is a play that students had participated in PE earlier this week. The kids
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are nodding in agreement that (X) should play with both the ball and make room in the circle for

him. A kid named (Y) in the center was shouting his name and tossing (X) the ball. (X) follows

the ball and was ready to grab the ball with his arms. He quickly catches it and smiles as he

throws it away to (Y). He shows a good control of throwing the ball to (Y). (Y) catches X’s ball,

and grins.

(X) races towards the climbing frame when the class teacher says there are 5 more minutes left

of playtime. He spends the time climbing the frame and sliding it down. This time the equipment

was being used by other kids so (X) must wait for his turn. He smiles and talks out to the other

kids. (X) was slightly short of breath and laughing as he jumps from the slide and races to join

the group of kids waiting to return to school. With the other children, he stays quiet until it's his

time to go in. Gross motor skills of student (X) were within the normal range for a five-year age

kid.