In this activity, you will begin looking for social behaviors in children. Spend fifteen minutes observing a child or a group of children in your program, or in a colleague’s program. Write down the behaviors you see that are social (e.g., a child offers another child a toy) and the behaviors that might be signs that a child could use support around developing social and emotional competence (e.g., a child is excluding other children from play). Include social interactions between adults and the child, too. As you observe or after your observation, talk with your trainer, coach, or family child care administrator about how you could help the child learn or use social behaviors.
What did the child do? | What social skill or behavior did you see, or what skill is the child still learning? | I want to talk to my trainer about… |
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Kennedy is crying in the infant seat. The provider comes over, picks her up, and begins singing to her. Kennedy stops crying and lays her head on the provider’s shoulder. |
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Eliot (23 months) and Brady (4 years), are sitting on a mat and playing with toys. Eliot reaches for the toy Brady has. She pulls it out of Brady’s hands. The two girls both pull on the toy until Eliot bites Brady on the arm. Brady drops the toys and starts crying loudly. |
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Jamal (3 years) and Leo (6 years) are building with blocks. Jamal gets frustrated when Leo doesn’t want to build a new castle and knocks down the tower. |
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Violet (7 years) is organizing the girls into a club by the play structure. She is giving everyone a different job to do, and she appears to be the leader. |
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