Pre-school children Essay

I carried out my observation on a group of pre-school children consisting 1 boy and 2 girls for 13 minutes in the morning free play session. These children were about to do leaf and twig printing for the first time. The equipment that was provided was yellow paint, brown paint and green paint all of these were in small paint trays. There was also sugar paper for the children to print their leaves on. There was also various sized leafs and twigs in a small tray. Each child went and put their aprons on. Then they came and sat sown around the table on the chairs. I explained to them what they have to do and I demonstrated this by dabbing a leaf into the paint and printing it onto a piece of sugar paper. Then I got a piece of twig and dabbed it into the paint and printed it onto the sugar paper. The children listened to me carefully and then they started to their printing. A picked a large leaf using her right and looked at it, and then she said â€Å"wow, look at how many colours this leaf has, 1, 2, 3 different colours†. Next she carefully lifted another large leaf she dabbed it into the green painted. Next she printed the leaf onto the large piece sugar paper. R picked up a twig and he stroked it into the brown paint; next he stroked the twig onto the piece of sugar paper and whilst he was doing this he said â€Å"this paint is going in lines, it looks like chocolate, weeeeehhh†. Beside this K picked up a leaf and dabbed it into the yellow paint. K rubbed the leaf into the yellow paint, next he lifted the leaf from the yellow paint and placed the leaf in the green paint, and again he rubbed the leaf and said while doing this he excitedly said â€Å"I am mixing colours†. Next I asked the children â€Å"where do leaves come from? † A quickly answered â€Å"they come from trees†. R added â€Å"then they fall off the trees†. K also added â€Å"twigs come from trees as well†. K said â€Å"Look, I made a nice picture†, she also added â€Å"I have got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 leaves printed†. Soon after R picked up a leaf and said loudly â€Å"this leaf is red, yellow and brown†. A picked up a twig and using both of her hands she rolled it into the green paint, she next rolled the twig onto the sugar paper. A picked up 3 different sized leaves and placed them onto the sugar paper and said â€Å"this one is tiny, this one is a little bit bigger and this one is the biggest†. R then said excitedly â€Å"look my twig has made patterns†. A leaned over to have look at R’s picture. A said â€Å"it hassss! â€Å". Then she looked at her picture and said â€Å"look! My leaves have made patterns in the middle†. Next K held up her paper and said â€Å"I am finished! â€Å". She placed her paper on the drying rack and took her apron off, washed her hands and went to play with some toys. R and A also said that they had finished they placed their pieces of paper onto the drying rack. Next they removed their aprons and washed their hands and went to play. E6 & E7 & E10 I carried out my observation on a group of morning children of the pre-school for a total of 13 minutes approximately whilst they had a free play. I observed how a group of children play with natural materials and noting how it helps them to learn. While I was observing this small group of children playing I noticed that this activity helps them to learn about the knowledge and understanding of the world. I also noticed that they were interacting and communicating really well with each other. You can view this by reading my observation in E5. But we must remember that each child develops at their own pace. This group of children’s ages range from 3:6 years to 3: 9 years. The Foundation Stage Curriculum states â€Å"Knowledge and Understanding of The World; children notice and comment on patterns† (2000, pg89). This statement was from the green area stepping stone and this shows me that this group of children are at the correct developmental stage. But we must remember that each child is an individual. Also The Foundation Stage Curriculum states â€Å"Mathematical Development; children count actions and objects that cannot be moved† (2000, pg 75). This statement from The Foundation Stage Curriculum is from the green area stepping stone, and it shows me that K is at the correct developmental stage because you can see from my observation in E5 that K was counting the leaf printings on her piece of sugar paper. The Foundation Stage Curriculum also states â€Å"Mathematical Development; children use size language such as ‘big’ and ‘little’. † This statement shows me that R is at the correct developmental stage because he was using size language when he was describing the three leaves. You can see this by viewing my observation in E5.