Associative And Cooperative Play Analysis

Associative and Cooperative play are significant types of play that occur in preschool children, ages 3-5 years of age. These types of play are imperative to a child’s imagination, and the social-emotional development of a child. When a child does not receive the interaction with other children and develops these types of play, a child can suffer with social and emotional disorders. Children who engage in imaginative play become more well-rounded in their emotional and social development.

During this observation, I paid more attention to how Olivia associated with her peers in her play. The children were outside during playtime, since it was a nice warm fall afternoon. Olivia was wearing her jacket, that just so happened to have the cape …show more content…
The friends then began to craw on their bellies, like they were crawling in “mud”, so Olivia, or “Birdgirl” as her friends referred her as, crawled on her belly after them. As I watched Olivia crawl on her belly, I noticed that she seemed to have a hard time crawling. She would put her right arm and leg forward, and then her left leg and arm forward, instead of using her right arm and left leg, and then alternating. The way Olivia was crawling was slowing her pace, and this upset Olivia greatly. She suddenly got up from the game, which had no rules as far as I could tell, and she walked off by herself, to a wall where she hid her face from her friends. Her friends came to inquire as to why Olivia stopped the game, but each time Olivia’s friends …show more content…
All the teachers stand off to the side and observe, monitor, and talk amongst themselves. While I understand that this outside play gives the teachers a much-needed break from the confines of the classroom, and lets the children loose upon their own cognancies, I feel the teachers are missing out by not engaging the children in play at least for part of the time. So, I engaged Olivia, and asked her what she was roaring at? “Are you protecting the playground with your roaring?” I asked. “I am roaring to scare the birds away.” Olivia replied. In fact, every time Olivia, and her friends roared like lions, the birds flying above would scatter. The group loved this and kept it up until there were no longer any birds in sight. Then I got an idea of playing tag with Olivia. She was on the playground, at its highest point. There is a plastic gate at the top, with slits in between the gate. Just wide enough for a little foot to be touched. When I reached in between the slits of the gate, and touched Olivia’s foot, she thought this was hilarious, and began to put her foot in between the gate slits, and then pull it away as if she thought I was going to catch her foot. This began a game of tag with Olivia and I, and soon other friends wanted in on the fun. So, I then was the one pretending to catch the children as they tried to keep away. However, I found it quite funny that the children wanted