Infant child observation
Jennifer Jeffries
February 25, 2017
“A playground should be like a small-scale replica of the world, with as many as possible of the sensory
experiences to be found in the world included in it. Experiences for every sense are needed for
instance: rough and smooth; objects to look at and feel; light and heavy things to pick up; water and
wet materials as well as dry things; cool materials and materials warmed by the sun; soft and hard
surfaces; things that make sounds or that can be struck, plucked, plinked, etc.; smells of all varieties;
shiny, bright objects and dull, dark ones; things both huge and tiny; high and low places to look at and
from; materials of every type-natural, synthetic, thin, thick, and so on. The list is inexhaustible, and the
larger the number of items that are included, the richer and more varied the environment for the child
(Greenman, 1988).”
In this observation I observed a 9 1/2 month old infant girl who just started trying to
walk in an outdoor atmosphere. I would place this child in between the level IV and V in the
Environmental chart. The time is approximately around 10:30a.m., engaging in a outdoor activity in
the infant-toddler play yard.
Walking onto the play yard I see a fun playhouse and tree house structure low enough for
even the smallest babies to crawl through. There's a small table with benches anchored to the ground
so that they don't tip over. There's a small patch of grass, large enough so the infants and toddlers can
explore. All this wonder within a fenced surrounding.
I notice the infant crawling up the tiny ramp of the tree house structure and then out the
other side. She did this a few times more squealing with glee as she accomplished this task. As she
continues onto the other side, she stops, grabs on to the structure, and then stands up beaming with her
accomplishment, to walk over to the entrance of the tree house structure. Facing the entrance, she
pauses, looks distressed for a moment, and then goes toward her caregiver in clumsy strides. I
watched as the caregiver bent down to her level, praising her for doing such a great job walking. The
caregiver walks over and sees the other infant-toddlers are blocking the entrance. I noticed then the
caregiver walks back over and asks the infant girl if she'd like to play on the grass with her. The
caregiver takes her hand and sits down on the grass.
The infant girl takes a look around her surroundings, touching blades of grass and notices