One Sticky Experience (paper)

Many times to see through the eyes of a child may seem simple, but I have learned with children it is nearly impossible to put your feet in their shoes. Not only does each child think differently, but the levels on which they do so are so extremely far, fetched for their abilities vary across such a wide spectrum that the concept of seeing things the way they see them is beyond just imagining yourself as a young child once again.

In previous weeks the three year olds at my daycare roasted hotdogs over a fire using metal spears, so I figured they would be able to use sticks this time with no problem. After seeing pictures of young children using a knife on their own and making cookies with little assistance I had expected my cooking experiment to go more smoothly than it had. During the activity though, the children depended on me much more than I had expected.

Once I started to help one child it seemed as though the other children would then rely on me to help them as well, even with the simple tasks. This taught me the importance of realizing that participating in an activity with children does not mean doing the activity for them. Rather than beginning an activity with pre-conceived beliefs regarding the children’s performance ability after reading articles in class about different ways of observing I have learned to use other experiences I’ve had to reflect on how children are developmentally similar and different (Nicolson & Shipstead, 2002). I realize through this activity that no two children have the same capabilities. The first child I made the smores sandwich with depended completely on me to make the entire smore for him. Part of this may be due to the food choice. The children had never seen this snack before, therefore were not familiar with how to prepare it. I am sure this made everything a bit more confusing for the children as well. As I started to work with the next few children though, because at first I assumed they would have the same difficulty as the previous ones I was surprised when the second child grabbed the stick to put the marshmallow on herself. Trying to imagine how children will react to things is only the first step though; next you must realize that individually each child will be very different.

I failed- I was seriously convinced at the end of the project that my idea to make smores went all wrong. Sometimes as adults we feel failure when everything does not go exactly how we planned. I bought so many marshmallows, crackers, and chocolate and only used about ¼ of all of it because less than ¼ of the group we had even participated. How could I consider an activity I created to participate in with all the children a success when less than 7 children participated in it and 3 or so more dropped out half way through?
I’ve learned failure is something you create. The children who did participate in my activity loved the smores! One girl even came back for seconds and thirds. I watched as another girl got tangled up in the sticky roasted marshmallows and gave me a dirty look when I tried to help her get cleaned up. One of the boys helped make the smore sandwich then offered it to another one of the children. So, although my activity did not incorporate all of the children’s participation and even though some of the children who started to help did not want to finish, when I came home and put my pictures on the internet it was nearly impossible to tell myself that this activity was a failure. The children were all smiling and gathered around watching as their fellow friends made their treat as well.

The structure of the day care is very carefree and the children are free to choose what they would like to do throughout the day. This made the activity a little easier for me because instead of having the entire group as I was expecting of 20 children to work with at the same time I only had a few. Some of the other children were watching, but most were off doing their own thing. This classroom structure made the experience go well for the children as well because it gave the shy and quiet children the opportunity to observe what was happening before deciding if they wanted to try it. After the activity was finished and cleaned up some of the children curiously came over wondering what they missed. It is interesting to observe how some children take initiative and are the first to step up to participate in an activity and then compare that to others who hold back, observe, and then decide whether or not to take part. If all the children were expected to participate I would not have been able to reflect on the experience as well for it would have been much more chaotic to try to help many children at the same time while remember how each of their individual experiences were.

As we have discussed in class, different ways of observing will invariably give you different results to reflect upon. Solberg talks about studying children’s work while taking part in the work herself. When you are directly involved with an activity you want to reflect on later you gather more specific detailed information (Solberg, 1996). For example, when I worked directly with the children as opposed just watching how they performed I was able to gain a frame of reference and observe the child’s experience from the position they were in. This creates an opportunity to describe the activity well and identify specific details which later could be used to enable a reader or friend to form vivid mental images of what you saw take place (Nicolson & Shipstead, 2002). I not only watched their frustration as they tangled themselves in the sticky marshmallow, but I knew how they felt because I myself was trying to clean my hands as well. Through this I was able to gain first hand knowledge regarding the children’s ability and was able to compare the difference in amount of initiative taken by each child individually. This is what made all the difference during my activity.

References
Nicolson, S & Shipstead, S. G. (2003): Through the Looking Glass- Observations in the
Early Childhood Classroom (3.ed). Pearsons Education, Inc. New Jersey.
Chapters 1,2, 5.

Solber, A. (1996): The Challenge in Child Research: From ‘Being to Doing’. From
Brannen, J. & O’Brien, M. Falmer. Children in Families: Research and Policy.
Falmer Press.