Child Observation/Play Essay

Running Head : PLAY ESSENTIALS

Play Essentials : Field Observation

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University

Play is known to be a spontaneous interactive activity , without rigid structure or direction , where two or more people engage in pleasurable conversational and behavioral exchange depending on the mood and situation of the present moment . When play is noted as spontaneous interactive pleasure , it is wise to consider the idea that no kind of purposeful plan can be premeditated before the interaction actually occurs . A date and time can be set up , such as schoolyard playtime , yet much

of what play is , if not all of what play is , cannot be prescribed and must simply unfold between the players

In observing the play of elementary aged children , perhaps 10 years of age , in a schoolyard , it is exhilarating to note their exuberance as they burst through the school doors and out into the yard . They know they are free here , and can interact without many rules or impositions being placed upon them . It is clear that they relish this time . A group of four boys and three girls run over to where the balls are kept in an open wooden box and begin playing some sort of a kickball game The bases are named after some deliberation , a tree , two cracks in the pavement , and the home base bush , and they begin their game , taking turns being the kickers , runners , and rollers , and catchers , depending on their team and their mood , team members sometimes shifting between the two small...