Children's Health and Safety Assignment Sample

Child’s Play Case Study

Table of Contents

Step 1: Observation and analysis.

Step 2: Written Report

Reference list

Step 1: Observation and Analysis

Observation and documentation

In the first vignette, in the time 4:14 , a boy has been identified who is playing with a car in the time of digging activity. The boy can be addressed with the pseudonym like John. John has not taken any interest in the digging activity which has been executed by his teammates. He is playing with a car over the table and has no interest in identifying hidden treasure by digging sand. The supervisor has not encouraged him to take part in the digging activity. Additionally, he has not been interacting with his teammates in the playful activity. However, in the time of opening the treasure box, the child came with curiosity in his eyes. In spite of this action the child has not shown that much interest and has not interacted. This is needed to be managed by the supervisor to encourage the participation of Kim.

On the other hand, in the second Vignette, Ryan has been widely interacting with the animals and has been playing pretend plays which are tagged with MTOP activities. As per the Cartmel & Hayes (2016), MTOP is majorly used for the development of respect, kindness, humanity, protectiveness and feeling of justice in the child. Through the activity of saving the herbivorous dinosaurs (toys), the mentioned type of noble quality has developed within Ryan. Hence, in this case, Erikson’s developmental theory can be aligned. Kerpelman & Pittman (2018) has stated that psychological development within a person starts from infancy and in eight stages which includes infancy, preschool, early childhood, school age and more. In this case, school age should be considered for Ryan, in the confusion of Industry vs. Inferiority is commonly identified. However, no such confusion in the case of Ryan has been noticed. Ryan is quite confident in his acting and interactive. However, little space has been identified in the context of his physical activity. In the third vignette, the child (Pseudonym: Violetta) has got a wide scope for physical activity but less scope of interaction has been noticed. This is needed to restructure. In the fourth vignette, a boy with green T-shirt and striped half pant (Pseudonym: Joseph) has been climbing up through the undulating plane. The boy is less interactive but has an adventurous mind. He likes to climb up by the undulating plain of slip. This may invoke physical risk and this is needed to be rectified. In the fifth vignette, Joyce, (the girl with pink top and blue pants) is not that much interactive and is roaming around by getting bored. This also needs to be managed with supervision and changing of the entire setup.

Analysis

Both the physical and mental activity is needed to be prioritised to design a play setup for infants and day-cares. As per the idea of Page (2015), Bowlby’s theory of attachment has its focus to develop the relationship between the peers in day-care and school for children. This is applicable for all the five vignettes. However, in the third vignette, the fact of attachment has been little identified as there was a single cold. This needs to be modified to make the child more interactive along with her physical activity.

Recommendation

At the final section, it can be recommended that special attention should be provided by the supervisor of John of the first vignette to make him more attractive. On the other hand, in the second vignette, special arrangement should be developed for Ryan to make him more physically active in the time of role play. In the third vignette more children are needed to be involved with Violetta to make her more interactive. In the fourth vignette, Joseph is needed to be specially attended to protect him from any accidental activity. In the last vignette, Joyce should be involved with colourful and attractive objects she was getting bored with wooden blocks

Step 2: Written Report

Section 1

Playful activities have direct contribution in the development of children and this is the primary reason which has given child play a special position in the child pedagogy. It has been identified that the physical and mental development along with development of cognitive skills of a child is dependent over the playful activities and games. The control, and coordinated movement of body parts and the development of logical behaviour of a child is dependent on the playful activities and this is the main factor for which it has been included in the schools and crèche for children. The play activists includes constructive games, games for physical movement, nature study, science, geography and the interactive activities. The purpose of this report is to analyse the contribution of child play in the development of multiple skills and knowledge of children. Five vignettes of child play have been provided with videos. This report should outline the analysis of all those vignettes and evaluation of the importance of playful activities for children in school and in family. The objective of the report is as follows:

• To analyse five vignettes separately and to evaluate the role of child play in development of babies and infants
• To identify positive and negative factors tagged with all five vignettes
• To recommend effective strategy for five vignettes separately for managing the identified negative factors

Section 2

As per the identified objectives of the previous section of the report, in this section analysis of the five vignettes should be done specifically. In the vignettes, five different scenarios have been provided for child play. In the first vignette, an outdoor activity has been shown while in the rest of the vignettes in-door activities have specifically been focused. For five scenarios, the gender and age of the children are needed to be specifically mentioned.

For the first scenario, a group of children with age four to six years are involved in the playful outdoor activity, under the guidance of the supervisors. Both male and female children are associated with the activities that have been carried out in the outdoor playground. In the second vignette, a boy with ten to twelve years has been playing in an indoor amusement room. Likewise, in the third scenario, a big and indoor amusement land has been shown , where a girl of five to six years was playing In the fourth case, five children having age within 2 to five years have been playing in an indoor setup. At the last vignette, a girl of age 3 to 4 years has been doing playful activity in an indoor setup. Hence, in the case of playful activity it can be mentioned that the prioritization of both male and female kids is done.

In the introduction, the elementary idea tagged with playful activity has been mentioned. As per the idea of Fox & Diezmann (2017), children are majorly involved in the playful activities in both the indoor and outdoor setup with an elementary objective to promote physical growth. Running, whirling, jumping and crawling has their definite impact over the physical developments of babies and infants. Hence, this is the main factor for which playful activities are needed to be encouraged in the schools for babies and infants. The common factor for all the five vignettes is that, in wavy cases , children are encouraged in the fun full activities which includes physical movement like jumping, running, walking, stair climbing and more. Britto et al. (2017) has further added that specific muscle movements the children, like arm muscle, back muscle helps them to be strong and triggers the physical development like imposed balance for walking, running and other physical activities for future. However, for the children under the age group of 5, the activities like stair climbing, tummy time, crawling or rolling helps them to get better balance and grip in movement. In the five vignettes, all these activities have been included and this is the major positive part of all the scenarios.

The model of EYLF (Early Year Learning Framework), playful and physical activities have a special position. As per the viewpoint of Davis et al. (2015), the rudimentary concept of play based learning is promoted with EYLF and this includes various experimental and play based activities designed as per the age group of the participants. Fleer (2015) has further added that logical reasoning and general sense of a child is also developed with EYLF. This factor has been prioritised in Vignette 1.

In the first vignette, six to seven children have been involved in a digging activity and the basic principle of digging has been explained to them with the use of toy shovels. From this angle, it can be mentioned that the development of general sense and knowledge of the children along with the physical activities like leg and arm movement has been prioritised side by side in the first scenario. As per the idea of Sumsion (2019), the development of interactive and cognition skills of children is focused in the case of EYLF. Additionally, Chigeza & Sorin (2016) has further mentioned that brotherhood, group effort and friendship is one of the major outcomes of the interactive playful activities. In this case, children are communicating with each other and the supervisor while playing with the shovel and collaboration among them has also been noticed. However, the lack of proper coordination in the entire activity has been pinpointed which can be considered as one of the major drawbacks of the first vignette. Children have a basic instinct to be curious about something hidden and this factor has been encouraged in this play model where, the children have to take out hidden treasure by digging sands. This kind of activity helps children to develop their imaginative idea and turns a child more creative and innovative in future. [Refer to Appendix 1]

Ey & Spears (20202) has analysed and mentioned the maintenance of safety for children, one of the major aspects is needs to be focused by the day care centres and play schools. In this case, the lack of the same has been identified in the few cases. This is needed to be rectified with specific strategies and redesigning of the setup is specifically needed.

On the other hand, in the second vignette, the application of prudent play has been done. The boy of about 10 years has been doing in this scenario. As per the idea of Corcoran & Barnes (2015), the development of special and noble qualities among children should be focused which includes affection, protectiveness, justice, loyalty and kindness as well. In the pretend play of Ryan (the child of the vignette), the same thing has been focused. As per the viewpoint of Cartmel & Hayes (2016), MTOP (My Time Our Place) is specially designed for children between 6 to 12 years , while EYLF is for the children with the age up to 5 Years. In this case the age of Ryan is about 10 years who has been included in a pretend role play. In the role play of Ryan, he has protected herbivorous dinosaurs from danger. This is highly associated with the elementary outcomes MTOP activity. As per the government report of the Department of Education and Training, the first outcome of MTOP is to make the child learn to behave with empathy, respect and kindness (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, 2018). The same factor has been noticed in the pretend play of Ryan. Additionally, the third outcome of MTOP activity is to make the child aware about social and emotional wellbeing. Ryan has been acting emotionally in the pretend play from which it can be analysed that with these kinds of activity, the emotional aspect and noble qualities in a child get developed. On the other hand, in the outcome of MTOP, the aspect of curiosity, cooperation and confidence along with problem solving is also attached. Hence, from this angle, the activity of digging out of hidden treasure can also be considered as a MTOP in the child pedagogy structure. [Refer to Appendix 2]

In the third scenario, a girl of age around 5 years has been identified in an amusement land. The setup of the amusement land has a close resemblance with that of Disneyland which is sufficient to instigate the imaginative ideas among a child. From the expression of the child, it can be analysed, as if she is touching her dreams and this is highly important for psychological wellbeing of a child. However, no such MTOP activity or EYLF has been focused in this section and the scenario has been designed only to promote physical activities like rolling, running, walking or staircase climbing. However, in this case also, the major drawback is that, more safety aspects should be focused while designing the setup. The handrails and railing of the staircases, has been identified as not that much safe for the child and it may invoke accidents like getting trapped or falling down. This needs to be redesigned with a better and safe designing. [Refer to Appendix 3]

The fourth vignette has been designed to encourage the children of the coming and rolling activity. The age of all children is within 5 years and in this age physical development and development of communicative skill is highly needed. As per the idea of Drobnjak (2014), a child learns to climb up stairs in about 18 months and change in the balance and proprioception takes place. The application of the same thing has been done for this vignette and the children are interacting with each other along with climbing up the sirs and rolling down by the undulating slip. The skill of balance has appreciably developed among the child as they are even climbing up through the undulating slip in upward direction with firm grip on their feet. However, in this case also, the lack of safety management has been identified which may invoke a major accident. [Refer to Appendix 4]

In the last vignette, EYLF has specially been focused and with the playful activities, teaching has been given to them. As per the idea of Adam et al. (2019), in the EYLF, the concept of figures, numbers, colours and animals and other objects are specifically provided. In this vignette also, the application of the same thing has been identified as the supervisor has been teaching about colours and shapes like circles through interactive indoor play. Moreover, the most appreciable factor is that the training regarding Jigsaw Puzzle has been given to the children. As per the idea of Sumsion et al. (2018), practising jigsaw puzzles, help in the development of logical reasoning, concentration and cognitive skill of children. Hence, the inclusion of such activity from the tender age is highly appreciable for the children. [Refer to Appendix 5]

Section 3

In this section recommendation regarding, each and every vignettes is needed to be provided. Every scenario has both positive and negative aspects which need to be further embarrassed and rectified in order to make the play activities most suitable for children. In the first vignette, the safety aspect needed to be more focused. As per the national quality standard quality area 2 and is needed to be focused in this case. In all the subsections of standard 3, protection from water, sunlight and any sharp edged furniture has been instructed (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, 2020). In this case, children are doing playful activities under scorching sun rays which is strictly prohibited under national quality standards. Respect, reflect and relate resources are needed to be utilised to redesign this setup. Additionally, the sharp edges of shovels are needed to be redesigned in order to avoid the chance of accidents.

In The second vignette, the setup is quite safe and the child is involved with MTOP activity. However, it is recommended that more aspects of physical activity are needed to be engaged in this setup in order to focus the physical development aspect of the teenagers.

In the third vignette, major change is needed to focus over the EYLF aspect. Firstly the railing and handrails are needed to be redesigned to avoid any accident. As per the idea of Knaus (2015), interactive skill of the children and proficiency in expressing ideas is needed to be developed with playful activities. In this case, no scope of interaction of the child has been identified. This needs to be changed. Hence, it can be recommended that the scope of speaking or action is needed to be developed with engagement of more children or with special activities like speaking with animals and toys.

On the other hand, in the case of Vignette 4, a lack of proper supervision and safety aspect has been noticed. The children are playing by themselves and are rolling over each other. This is needed to be prevented and managed to avoid any accidents. The won blocks from the sef has been thrown down through the slip, which may create an accident. Additionally, children were climbing up by the undulating plane of slip. This can invoke major accidents for them. Hence, this is needed to be prevented in order to make the setup safer for children. National quality framework standard 2.2, has been designed to maintain the safety aspect of the children in day-care. Element 2.2.1 has been instructed about all time supervision of the children (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, 2020). This has not been done for the vignette 4. Hence, it can be recommended that the fact of supervision is needed to be developed and more supervisors are needed to be appointed.

In the vignette 5, in the initial stage, the lack of interactive activity has been noticed and the girls has been identified as setting and roaming of her own. Hence, it can be recommended that the setup is needed to be designed with more interesting objects rather than wooden blocks in order to draw more attraction and attention of children. The child was getting bored within the setup and this has an impression over the cognitive and interactive skill. This is needed to be changed with redesigning of the setup with colourful objects and images. The application of the same thing needs to be done.

Reference List for Children's Health and Safety

Adam, H., Barratt-Pugh, C., & Haig, Y. (2019). “Portray cultures other than ours”: How children’s literature is being used to support the diversity goals of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. The Australian Educational Researcher, 46(3), 549-563. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00302-w

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, (2018). My Time, Our Placeframework for school age care in Australia. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2018-05/my_time_our_place_framework_for_school_age_care_in_australia_0.pdf

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, (2020). Quality Area 2 – Children's health and safety. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-quality-standard/quality-area-2-childrens-health-and-safety

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority, (2020). Quality Area 3 – Physical environment. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-quality-standard/quality-area-3-physical-environment

Britto, P. R., Lye, S. J., Proulx, K., Yousafzai, A. K., Matthews, S. G., Vaivada, T., ... & MacMillan, H. (2017). Nurturing care: promoting early childhood development. The Lancet, 389(10064), 91-102. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/404125/1/Nurturing%2520care%2520submitted.pdf

Cartmel, J., & Hayes, A. (2016). Before and after school: Literature review about Australian school age child care. Children Australia, 41(3), 201. http://search.proquest.com/openview/891ee484d2c2a21e2c3d9eebdaf14102/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1586358

Chigeza, P., & Sorin, R. (2016). Kindergarten children demonstrating numeracy concepts through drawings and explanations: intentional teaching within play-based learning. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 41(5), 5. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2016v41n5.5

Corcoran, T., & Barnes, H. (2015). Celebrating excellence in early childhood: Interview with Heather Barnes. Every Child, 21(4), 20. https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=835096635800077;res=IELAPA

Davis, B., Torr, J., & Degotardi, S. (2015). Infants and toddlers: how visible are they in the Early Years Learning Framework?. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 9(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40723-015-0014-y

Drobnjak, L. (2014). Child development: helping kids learn to climb stairs safely. https://theinspiredtreehouse.com/child-development-helping-kids-learn-climb-stairs-safely/#:~:text=The%20weight%20of%20the%20object,their%20stair%20climbing%20skills!)

Ey, L. A., & Spears, B. (2020). Engaging early childhood teachers in participatory co-design workshops to educate young children about bullying. Pastoral Care in Education, 38(3), 230-253. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643944.2020.1788129

Fleer, M. (2015). Science for children. Cambridge University Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=kyNTCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=EYLF+for+children&ots=Sk0YbAl3Kk&sig=mNSo65ZfcpzwKWFgp2X6FW7pTtc

Fox, J. L., & Diezmann, C. M. (2017). The Australian early years learning framework and ICT: a part of life or apart from life?. In Contemporary issues and challenge in early childhood education in the Asia-Pacific region (pp. 143-163). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2207-4_9

Kerpelman, J. L., & Pittman, J. F. (2018). Erikson and the relational context of identity: Strengthening connections with attachment theory. Identity, 18(4), 306-314. https://doi.org/10.1080/15283488.2018.1523726

Knaus, M. (2015). ‘Time for Being’: Why the Australian Early Years Learning Framework opens up new possibilities. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 13(3), 221-235. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X14538601

Page, J. (2015). The legacy of John Bowlby’s attachment theory. The Routledge International Handbook of Philosophies and Theories of Early Childhood Education and Care, 80-90. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/154422405.pdf

Sumsion, J. (2019). The Australian early years learning framework: Becoming and children in their first 1000 days. In The First 1000 Days of Early Childhood (pp. 73-92). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9656-5_5

Sumsion, J., Harrison, L. J., & Stapleton, M. (2018). Spatial perspectives on babies’ ways of belonging in infant early childhood education and care. Journal of Pedagogy, 9(1), 109-131. https://doi.org/10.2478/jped-2018-0006.

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