Play creates proximal development

Running Record – Sand Play

Name - Jane and Kate Age - Four year olds

Setting - Pre- Primary - Sand pit

Equipment - Ice block trays, small shovels and scoops, cake tins and trays,
moulds, spoons, saucepans, teapot, buckets, variety of
different shaped containers, brooms and a rake.

Key-

Areas Decoded Specific Areas Evident in Observation

Theories (Contemporary Theories of (Metacommunicative Theory and Cognitive Theories of play)

Play and Classical Theories of Play)

Genres of Play (Fleer, 1997) ( Constructive-study and Object-study,)

16 Types of Play (Fleer, 1997) (Symbolic play, Social play, Socio-dramatic play and
Exploratory play)

Partens Social Categories of play ( Parallel play, Associative play and Co-operative play)

Developmental domains (Cognitive development, Physical development, Language

development, Social development)

EYLF outcomes and milestones (Outcome 5 and Outcome 1)

General Capabilities (Numeracy, Literacy, Personal and Social capabilities, Critical

and Creative Thinking)

Characteristics of play (Fromberg, ( Play is voluntary, Play is pleasurable, Play is meaningful and
1992) Play is eposidic)
Time Observation Decoding

11.04a The children are getting ready to go outside. Jane is - Parallel Play
m one of the last children outside. She heads over to the
sand pit area and sits down to take her shoes off. She - Proprioception
then puts her shoes to the side of the sand pit and ( Physical
watches the children play. She is burying her feet in the development )
sand and feeling the sand with her toes as she sits
there. Kate is sitting in the sand close by. She is filling
up cake containers with sand. She looks up at Jane
standing there.

11.06a Kate- “Do ya wanna make cakes with me?” - Associative play
Jane looks over at Kate and nods her head. She steps
m
down into the sand pit and sits near Kate. Kate picks up - Social play
a cake tin and passes it to Jane. - Constructive- study
- Metacommunicative
theory
- Play is voluntary

Kate- “Here, you will need this”

Jane holds the cake tin in her hand and looks inside it.

Jane- “Ta”

Jane picks up a spoon from close to Kate’s leg.

Jane- “Can I have this too?”

She shows Kate the spoon and Kate nods her head in
agreement.

Jane begins to scoop sand up in the spoon and tip it - Physical

into her cake tin. When the tin is full she tips its out all Development (Fine
over her feet. She wiggles her toes and giggles as the motor skills)
sand moves through her toes. She then starts to fill the - Exploratory play
cake tin again. She repeats the process four times. Kate - Object- study
is watching her from nearby. After a few seconds Jane
stands up and walks over to the storage tub that has
more equipment in it. She reaches in and pulls out a
patty cake tin, a small shovel and a plastic trowel. She
then walks back to the sand and sits down. Kate picks - EYLF Outcome 1;
up the cake tin that Jane had been using. Milestone, enjoys
playing with others.
- Social & Language
Kate- “Can I have this now?”
Development
Jane turns her head to look at Kate and smiles. - Play is pleasurable
- Non-verbal
communication
Time Observation Decoding

Jane- “That needs to be filled so that we can cook it.” - Cognitive

Development
- EYLF Outcome 5;
Milestone talks to self
during play
- Metacommunicative
theory

Using the small shovel, Jane starts to fill her patty cake - Object-study
tins with sand. When they have enough sand in them, - EYLF Outcome 5;
she uses the trowel to ‘level’ the top of the cakes. When milestone Uses
she is satisfied that the cakes are finished she takes the objects, materials to
trays to the limestone wall at the edge of the sandpit build
and lines them up. - Cognitive
Development

- Co-operative play
Jane- “Let’s pretend this is the oven” (pointing to the - Socio- dramatic play
area that the cakes are in). - Metacommunicative
language

Jane turns to face Kate, who is pretending to drink sand - Critical and Creative
from a cup. Jane picks up a large cake tin and begins to thinking
fill it with sand using her hands and then puts it in the - Numeracy
oven. After a few minutes Jane takes the large cake tin - Physical Development
out of the ‘oven’. She turns the tin upside down and (Fine motor skills)
pats the bottom of it. Because the sand is slightly damp, - Cognitive
the sand comes out of the tin in the shape of a cake. Development
Jane continues to do this until all of the cake tins are - EYLF Outcome 5;
empty. She then pushes her fingers into the ‘large cake’ Milestone counts five
to make five small holes. Jane then starts to look around things/objects
the sand pit as if she is looking for something in - Symbolic play
particular. Her eyes light up as she spots a few small
sticks. She picks the sticks up and takes them back to
her cake. Jane sits down and breaks the sticks so that - Metacommunicative
there are five of them. She then counts each one as she theory
puts them in the holes in the cake. - Language
development
- Social play
Jane- “This is for you Kate cause its your birthday soon”
- EYLF Outcome 5;
Jane points at the cake and smiles at Kate. Kate smiles
milestone uses
and takes the cake from Jane.
simple sentences

11.18 Kate- “Thanks. I like having birthdays”. - Social Play

Jane- “I like having birthdays too”. - Play is meaningful
am
Just then the children across from the sand pit laugh - Personal and Social
very loudly and Jane looks up to the outdoor play Capabilities
equipment that the children are playing on. She - Metacommunicative
watches them for a few seconds and then decides to theory
walk over and join them. - Episodic play
Analysis

Kate and Jane at four years old are involved in Metacommunicative play, a

contemporary theory of play. Play provides a healthy context or brain

development within, thus the importance of it in the early years (Miller,

2016). The play both children are engaging in is evident to be

metacommunicative theory as it has a clear beginning and end, the two

children are involved in the narrative of the play and know what is

happening within it (Dockett & Fleer, 1999). Both children are playing

and aware that the sand play they are carrying out is pretend and they

communicate this to one another. Kate and Jane are both using

metacommunicative language to indicate that they are playing such as

“Lets pretend”. Both children take on the role of making and creating

cakes in the sand play. They both accept each others views within the

play and use both verbal and non-verbal communication to interact and

play (Dockett & Fleer, 1999).

The genre of play evident within Jane’s play in the sand is, object-study

through her repetitive play with objects in the sand. She continues to fill

the cake tin and then tips it out over her feet. Later in the play Jane

continues to focus on object-study play when she uses the trowel to

level the top of the cake she is making (Dockett & Fleer, 1999). Through

the exploration of the properties Jane is engaging with she is able to

subsequently engage in exploratory play, develop fine motor skills,

expand her cognitive development and reach the Early Years Learning

Framework Outcome Five; “Children are effective

communicators” (Department of Education, 2009).

Kate displays interest and focus within the sand play on the Constructive-

study genre of play. She is focused on making a cake and invited Jane

to play and construct the cake with her also (Dockett & Fleer, 1999). In
 the beginning of the play Kate explicitly asks Jane “ Do ya wanna make

cakes with me ?”. Through focussing on constructive play and inviting

Jane to play with her, Kate is developing her social skills, engaging in

social play and building a friendship with Jane as well.

Jane and Kate both work together to create a context and narrative to their

play. They move from engaging in social and exploratory play, with the

sand and the trowel together to socio-dramatic play where they engage

in and act out real situations they may encounter in their personal lives

(Fleer, 2013). Both children communicate to one another that they are

going to pretend an area in the sand play is an oven and that they are

cooking a cake for Kate’s birthday. The way the children use the sand in

the cake tin to represent a birthday cake depicts the symbolic play they

are engaging in. Through this social and symbolic play, connections to

the development of Kate and Janes creative and language skills expand

and develop (Holmes, Gardner, Kohm, Bant, Ciminello, Moedt & Romeo,

2017). Symbolic play, is known to develop the beginning of ones

emotional regulation and emotional development, thus the importance

for symbolic play between Jane and Kate (Jung, Zhang & Zhang, 2017).

Social play is seen as a means to foster and enhance language,

cognitive, social and emotional development and through the

development of the play both children are able to learn to navigate

contexts and creatively use and expand their language skills, literacy

abilities and vocabulary (Xu, 2010).

Partens (1929) Social Categories of play are organised in a hierarchy of

play development stages (Dockett & Fleer, 1999). By the age of

four ,both Jane and Kate are expected to be engaging in parallel,

associative and co-operative play (Dockett & Fleer, 1999). The

beginning of their sand play the two children are evidently engaging in
 parallel play, as they are both in the sand pit playing close to each other

but are yet to interact . The play then moves to associative play when

Kate ask’s Jane if she would like to make cakes with her and Jane looks

over at Kate and nods. The children then use the same equipment and

do similar things, such as filling the cake tin up and using a spoon to put

the sand in the cake tin but there is yet to be a defined goal, roles or

plan of action to the play (Dockett & Fleer, 1999). Jane and Kate then

begin to engage in Co-operative play, a key milestone for their age

bracket, when Jane begins to give instructions as to filling the cake tin

so they can cook and sets the scene when she states “Lets pretend this

is an oven”. The play then proceeds to the two children making a

birthday cake for Kate together co-operatively (Dockett & Fleer, 1999).

Socially, we see we see both Kate and Jane reaching the Early Years

Outcome ( EYLF) one; “Children have a strong sense of identity”, as they

both enjoy playing with one another and share smiles and cooperate

well together (Department of Education, 2009). Reaching this milestone

is especially important as four year olds. Together they smile at each

other within the sand play and manipulate the sand in the cake tin to in

partnership create a birthday cake, developing and learning about

friendship and social skills necessary for and within one’s life.

The Social play both children are carrying out is seen as a critical in their

development of language, cognitive and social skills (Xu, 2010).

Cognitively, we can see Jane has meet the EYLf Outcome five; “Children

are effective communicators”, as she uses objects and materials to build

and construct things, she counts five things and she also talks to self

during her play (Department of Education, 2009). Jane uses

Metacommunicative language to tell herself that “ that needs to be

filled so that we can cook it” to herself, She uses the trowel to level the
 sand, Jane then makes five holes in her cake and picks up five sticks to

take back to her cake to use as candles and counts them as she places

them into the cake. Before placing the sticks in the cake she picks them

up and breaks them displaying physical development of her fine motor

skills. These displays of cognitive development and language

development exhibit Jane’s ability to problem solve and her way of

thinking. It appears Jane is very cognitively advanced within the sand

play she is engaging in.

The play the two girls are engaging in is not only an enjoyable experience

for the two but also crucial for them to learn about their language,

develop abstract concepts, build relationships and strengthen their

physical skills (Xu, 2010). Both children engage in scooping sand with a

spoon into the cake tin to make cakes, and therefore both develop their

fine motor movements and physical development. Both Jane and Kate

uses sentences with words to communicate to each other and take part

in conversations about the making of cakes furthermore developing

their language abilities. Kate ask’s Jane if she would like to make cakes

with her and then Jane nods in reply, the use of simple questions and

communication shows language development within both children and

also the achievement and connection to the EYLF outcome five;

“Children are effective communicators “ (Department of Education,

2009). Through language development and literacy children will

develop their lower brain systems resulting in both language and

cognitive development (O’Connor, 2018).

Jane and Kate both display benchmarks from the West Australian General

Capabilities within their sand play such as; personal and social

capabilities, numeracy, literacy and critical and creative thinking.

Personal and social capabilities are met through engaging with one
 another and communicating in a positive context to each other.

Through the social interaction between the children all kinds of learning

takes place, the two children most importantly establish a positive

relationships and friendship that will impact their development

throughout their lives (Xu, 2010). Jane shows numeracy development

when counting the candles for the cake she made and also critical and

creative thinking when she finds sticks to use as the candles onto of the

cake for Kate’s birthday.

The scenario shows the play Kate and Jane are engaging in to be,

voluntary, pleasurable, meaningful and episodic according to

Fromberg, 1992 (Dockett & Fleer, 1999). The play is voluntary as it is

based on intrinsic motivation, the children enjoy being able to spend

time and engaging together in something important to them (Dockett &

Fleer, 1999). Intrinsic motivation is built when one feels positively and

satisfied (Miller, 2016). When Jane nods her head after Kate invites her

to make cakes together, you can see the two children are voluntarily

participating and engaging in the play together. When the play comes

to a close the girls both state they like having birthdays and the making

of the cakes during the sand play, this play can be seen as meaningful

to each of the girls as they have related it to an experience in which

means something to them. Through the connection between making

cakes and having a birthday the children have allowed the play to be

meaningful to them (Dockett & Fleer, 1999). The play the two children

are engaged in is also pleasurable as they both are clearly engaging

and enjoying the making of the cakes using sand and smiling to one

another as a non-verbal gesture to communicate their feelings (Dockett

& Fleer, 1999). The evidence of the metacommunicative contemporary

theory in the sand play between Jane and Kate it is consequently

evident that the play is episodic as it has a clear beginning when Kate
 invites Jane the play, a middle when the girls make the cakes and

explore the material and an end when Jane leaves the sand pit to go

join in the outdoor play equipment (Dockett & Fleer, 1999).

Cognitive theorist Vygotsky (1978) describes the zone of proximal

development as a means of expanding and extending children to reach

their full potential (Xu, 2010). Through the social interaction both Jane

and Kate are encountering they are learning through the natural context

(Xu, 2010). The play they are engaging in is helping them to reach their

full potential through interacting with one another, the children are

unconsciously pushing each other to develop their language skills,

social skills, emotional skills, cognitive skill and physical skills (Xu, 2010).

Piaget (1962), a cognitive theorist also encourage social play and saw it

as a means for children to construct knowledge within themselves

through active exploration with their environment and valued this as a

means for social and emotional development within a child (Xu, 2010).

Piaget theory also describes how children engaging in play pushes

them out of a egocentric thought pattern through allowing them to

consider the viewpoint of their playmates. This is evident within the

sand play when Jane gives the birthday cake to Kate and considers it is

her birthday coming up and how she might like a cake. This social

interaction develops both children to consider one another and

furthermore develop their social skills considerably (Xu, 2010).

Social interaction in the early years of a child’s life is vital and critical to their

development (Nagel, 2012). Through the engagement in the sand play,

Kate and Jane are not only developing across multiple domains but are

also building friendship, cooperation, discussion and collaborating

together on something that intrinsically motivates them, their birthdays

and baking (O’Connor, 2018).

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