The child I observed at the park seemed to be a toddler aged around three years. This study will focus on the aforementioned preschooler's game-playing trends, gender identity development, parenting style exhibited by his parents, language development and personality and cognitive developmental stages. At the park, the subject in question was largely seen playing the following games.• Sardines
Sardines represents a unique form of the traditional game of hide and seek. A single player hides whereas the remaining are to turn the other way and count. When the hiding player is found by any one seeker, the latter joins him/her. One by one, all players crowd into the player's hiding place and this marks the end of the game.
• Blob tag
When the "It" player tags another player, both join hands with each other and begin pursuing the remaining together. Ultimately there is an entire crowd of players (known as the Blob) pursuing a single player. The last player being absorbed by the Blob marks the end of the game.
• Frozen tag
In this game, the tagged player has to freeze on spot. A frozen player may only be freed when another player scrambles through his/her legs. The end of the game is marked by all players getting frozen.
• Captain of the ship
In this game, the Captain issues orders. Players get "out" if they commit mistakes (or they may become sharks and tag fellow players, which gets the latter out). While the captain can issue personal orders, players typically review the list together before commencing playing. Common orders include: 'to the ship' (where players are required to run off to the ship, which can be a climber, the swings, or any other object in the park); 'love boat' (partner for a dance with a fellow player); 'hit the deck' (lie flat on one's tummy);...
As the remaining look for the object, the hider gives the following clues, "You are getting colder" to indicate that seekers are moving further away from the hidden object or "You are getting warmer" to indicate that seekers are getting nearer to it (Today's Parent, 2016).
Children desires group play in certain instances and individual play in others. This is reliant on the type of game they prefer. The toddler in question showed a liking for Sardines which is always played in a group.
Kids grow up naturally in foreseeable stages, progressing from developmental milestone to developmental milestone. In case of the toddler in question, considering his predicted age, one may witness gains in the following five key areas.
• Social and emotional growth. This commences when a child turns two and starts showing interest in being in the company of other kids. However, initially, a majority of kids engage in parallel play (playing near, instead of with, one another). By the time they reach 5 years, kids normally look for and enjoy bonds of friendship.
• Physical growth decelerates from the swift pace of babyhood. In the age group of the toddler under study, kids normally gain between 1.5kg (3 lbs.) and 2.5 kg (5 lbs.) of weight and experience a roughly 8 cm height increase annually.
• In the logic and thought (cognitive growth) domain, kids aged around 3 years progress from a rudimentary to a somewhat more advanced grasp of colors, time, alphabets…
