When conducting placement with Leo, one of the days we attended Leo’s local park where he was able to see his neighbourhood friends. I could see Leo was so happy to see and play with his peers, which makes myself wonder, what are the benefits of group play on children’s social skills? 

Leo helped me to create the play dough by measuring out ingredients and combining them. Once the

play dough was made Leo choose two colours blue and green to dye the dough these are Leo’s favourite

colours. As Leo played with the play dough, I was able to observe him. Leo already had play dough toys

where he was able to create ‘foods’ with the dough such as ‘spaghetti’ and ‘ice-cream’ creating pretend

play with play dough. Leo chose to play ‘restaurants’ with the play food, where I was the customer and

Leo was the chef. Pretend play is usually a re-enactment from what a child may have already observed

Through observing Leo playing and building with his LEGO I noticed that LEGO promotes fine motor

skills. Whilst Leo is playing, I can see that he is practicing ‘dexterity’ as Leo connects LEGO pieces of

different sizes and shapes. By doing this activity it requires Leo to create different amounts of pressure

to assemble and becomes a great exercise for his little fingers which then supports him in being able to

control the pressure when he is writing and drawing. I can also notice that the various shapes, colours,

and sizes of the LEGO can be used to construct many different designs such as building a fire station,

house or even a spacecraft. Building on Leo’s imagination as there is no limits when building with LEGO.

dad. Once we arrived at the park Leo could already spot two of, his friends from his neighbourhood. I

can see that Leo is a very social, friendly, and energetic child, as soon as we got to the park he ran to go

and play with his peers. The children all took turns to go down the slide and asked me to push them on

the swing. I can see the children are once again participating in pretending play through the slides and

the tunnels. I believe they are pretending to fly a spaceship with the wheels on the playground. I can

hear the children making noises as they conduct their pretend play, ‘ready for launch off’ says one child, ‘yes captain’ says another, ‘ZOOM into space’ they both say. This is a great way for children to

play as it expands on their imagination and social skills. The children may have seen something like this before through cartoon shows and are now reenacting through play. 

When conducting placement with 4 year old Leo, I look closely into preoperational stage this stage is where children are thinking at a symbolic level but are not yet using cognitive operations. And this can be shown through my observation of ordinary moments, whilst Leo is playing with LEGO.