Child Development Observation: 4-Year-Old at Play

Observation Overview

Soren is a 4-year-old boy with light blonde hair cut short on the sides and longer on top. He is a generally smiley child who likes to interact with his surroundings and enjoys running and hopping, crouching and springing into action with a cry of delight, as though he takes great amusement in catching the world by surprise.

He is observed at a play area in a children's museum. The observation begins just before noon and continues until a quarter past 1 p.m. The play area is very crowded and full of children around his own age, with parents standing nearby watching their children. Most of the children are playing on their own, looking at the environment around them and engaging with the activities available — puzzles, blocks, interactive equipment, play sets, scooters, and jungle gym equipment.

Soren's social competence is fair: he engages with other children easily but is also wary of them if he senses that they have aims contrary to his own. He plays both by himself and with others during his time at the play area. He is happy, enthusiastic, and bursting with energy — but his stamina cannot keep up with all the possibilities the area affords him, and by the time he and his father leave, he is already tired and appears ready for a midday nap. Despite his loss of stamina — and perhaps his growing hunger — he protests at having to leave the fun play area.

Early Childhood Developmental Stage

A 4-year-old is in the early childhood stage of development. At this stage, children are learning dexterity and growing their motor skills through play, which accounts for the repetition of actions such as stacking blocks in neat stacks or attempting to climb objects and obstacles. These children are in a pre-maturation phase; the prefrontal cortex has not yet developed enough to allow them to limit impulsivity, and so they generally run from one activity to the next.

However, not all children in this stage act this way. Some exhibit perseveration — the ability to focus on one activity for a long time and an inability, in fact, to stop. When they speak, they do so repetitively, using the same words again and again, unaware that the main purpose of speaking is simply to communicate. They become frustrated and cry when scolded for this repetition. As children grow and the brain develops, their emotional awareness and capacity to restrain impulsivity develop as well. At 4, a child is in the middle of the maturation process and may at times seem older than his age (mature) or younger than his age (immature). Children at this stage typically display a psychosocial yearning for adventure consistent with Erikson's observations — a drive that causes them to want to roam and explore their surroundings.

The sections of the brain that are especially important to development at this age are the amygdala and the hippocampus. These structures support learning. If they are undeveloped, a child may appear reckless and show little awareness of surroundings or of others, and behavior can lead to one or more children crying. At the same time, children with an underdeveloped amygdala and hippocampus may show irrational fears — such as to the sound of a vacuum cleaner — when no genuine threat is present. It is important, with this in mind, that children not be overly stressed during this stage of development, because the hypothalamus, which regulates hormones in response to signals from the amygdala and hippocampus, can be permanently damaged by chronic stress.

Children at this stage are also more likely to be immersed in the imaginative world inside their heads and less inclined toward rational or realistic thinking. Their considerations are typically fragmented and figurative — consistent with Piaget's preoperational period of cognitive development. In terms of how they view the world, their perspective is egocentric. They look to others for guidance, and leaders help children at this stage move toward a zone of proximal development (ZPD). Scaffolding is the term Vygotsky uses to explain how the ZPD is approached through the guidance of older individuals — mentors — who navigate between boredom and complexity to steer the child toward behavioral understanding and growth. Scaffolding, as the term suggests, is a mode of temporary support that is withdrawn, like training wheels, after a time. Examples include explaining, pointing, and affirming, and may include exchanges between child and parent such as: "What is this?" "This is a fridge. What do you think is inside?"

At this stage, children also learn language at a remarkable pace, and their vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds. They will learn up to 10,000 words by age 6, a process aided by fast-mapping — a method by which a new word is attached to a conceptual grid in the mind that makes up the child's mental language map.

Children in this stage may also display a preoperational thought pattern known as animism, in which they perceive objects as being alive. As a result, they will interact with dolls or stuffed animals as though these objects have life of their own.

According to Elkind, playtime for children in this stage is a most productive and enjoyable activity. It is, moreover, a universal phenomenon that children of all cultures and eras enjoy, even if particular cultures have their own playful activities suited to the methods of their time. Children learn social skills through play, and playtime with other children helps them develop maturation skills such as empathy. Children also learn rules through play, and a form of negotiation emerges as rules are changed or altered over the course of play.

There are several recognized types of play: solitary play, onlooker play, parallel play, associative play, and cooperative play. In solitary play, the child plays alone. In onlooker play, the child observes others playing. In parallel play, children play with the same objects in the same way but do not play together. In associative play, children interact but are still not quite playing together as a unit. In cooperative play, children play together and share objects.

The most common form of play for this age group is rough-and-tumble play. It is a form of active play, similar to sociodramatic play, that involves interaction and roughhousing with other children who are viewed as friends. It includes chasing, tackling, wrestling, pushing, and grabbing — all done in fun — and is part of the developmental process of learning about oneself, about others, and about one's environment.

Comparison of Observed Behavior to Theory

Soren displayed many signs characteristic of the early childhood stage. He exhibited motor skills when he neatly set about stacking blocks — first small hard blocks, which he did alone, and later large foam blocks, which he did with a friend. His play across the session was solitary, parallel, associative, and collaborative. His first block-stacking play was parallel; his scooter play was solitary; his play with the large foam blocks was both associative and collaborative; his play with the boy climbing the padded walls was collaborative, as the two took turns climbing and were engaged with each other's activity, expressing approval when one succeeded and enthusiasm for the other's movements. Soren also showed onlooker play when he watched two girls play with scooters.

Additionally, Soren showed signs of imaginative play when he was on the scooter, declaring that he was flying like Superman. He also imagined himself to be Superman battling the villain Zod when he was throwing foam blocks at his playmate later in the session.

Soren showed some sign of irrational fear when he abandoned his blocks and retreated to his father's side upon realizing that a girl nearby was playing with the same blocks and was not going to relinquish hers to him. This suggests some immaturity in the development of his limbic system. That immaturity was also evident when he recklessly scooted across the floor without regard for anyone around him — his perspective was entirely egocentric, though this is consistent with children his age who are still developing the amygdala and hippocampus regions of the brain.

Soren showed great confidence and happiness in play, consistent with Elkind's view that playtime is a most productive and enjoyable experience for children in this stage. He showed a desire for adventure when he attempted to climb the slide from the bottom — but his unawareness of another child at the other end of the slide further demonstrated his egocentricity.

Soren continued to rely upon scaffolding, which is also consistent with children his age. He depended upon his father to offer guidance and to point out others so that Soren could become aware of what was happening around him. On the slide, for example, Soren climbed upward while another child at the top was ready to come down. A collision ensued that left both boys momentarily confused — but neither appeared upset, which is consistent with the rough-and-tumble style of play normal for children at this age.

Soren did not yet have his emotions fully regulated, which is normal for this stage. He resisted his father's attempts to end playtime and cried when his father finally insisted, though this response could also indicate that the child was wearing down physically and psychologically and that a nap or lunch was in order.

Soren played collaboratively with another boy, engaging in physical activity — building and stacking foam blocks, knocking them over, and throwing them at each other. Soren described himself as Superman and called the other boy Zod; the other boy called himself Batman. The two played in this imaginative, role-playing manner while throwing blocks until a parent guided them back to stacking towers, which the boys did before proceeding to knock them down again as a continuation of their role-playing. Soren also showed confidence and authority in his imaginative playing: when the boy identified himself as Batman, Soren continued to call him Zod, and the boy accepted this assigned role.

Soren did show some signs of empathy when he knocked down a smaller child while scooting in solitary mode. The child cried dramatically and Soren was called to attention by both the child's cries and his father's gentle admonitions. Later, when his playmate fell after Soren threw a large foam block at him, Soren apologized; the boy got up laughing and the two laughed together before continuing their rough-and-tumble play.

In short, Soren's behavior was consistent with typical behavior for a child in the early childhood stage. He did not display much language repetition, but his block-building indicated a degree of perseveration consistent with a still-maturing limbic region that is undergoing development.