Volunteering with Children

During July 2013, I completed four days volunteering at ‘Oceans of Fun’ private day nursery. This experience allowed me to interact with, and observe, children from six months to five years old. I chose to work with children because I am fascinated by their behaviour and development. The main aim of this voluntary work was to enhance my study of Psychology; I will go on to detail some interesting observations that I made (with a hint of basic analysis).

Babies (6 months – 2 years)

Having never really had much interaction with babies, I found this to be a very novel experience. Babies are messier than I thought; I guess they don’t have the cognitive ability to care if there’s snot all over their face.

Children of this age seem to develop very quickly – I was told that one boy had gone from not being able to walk or talk to being able to do both within three months. Some of the older children were able to identify their own body parts and understood the concept of colours while the younger ones had not even said their first word. However, knowledge of colours was not yet very advanced and one boy was telling me everything I pointed to was ‘yellow’.

Ideas of gender were not developed at this age. Little boys would happily play with female bracelets without considering that they were items typically ‘for girls’. According to Kohlberg’s Gender Development Theory, these children would be just beginning to form ideas of gender. Some of the older would enter the Gender Identity Stage, in which they can label themselves as male or female.

The babies’ relationships with each other were limited. They seemed aware of others but did not possess the cognitive ability to de-centre and appreciate the world from another’s point of view. They would not consider the feelings of others and they were not very good at sharing toys. They would be just as happy playing alone as when other children were present. However, there were examples of when one of the older boys would show affection towards one of the younger ones by hugging and kissing him.

Children of this age seemed to form attachments quickly. Within less than half an hour of my arrival, one boy was sat on my knee, squashing my face with his hand. He was very entertained by our game involving a ball and ramp, in which he would delightedly clap his hands and say ‘ball’. However, these attachments that the children formed with me did not seem permanent or sustained. After lunch break, many appeared to had forgotten me and certainly when returning a week later they did not recognise me.

I enjoyed working with children of such a young age. I discovered that they like to climb, be mischievous, touch shiny things (including my braces!), and that they fall over a lot!

Toddlers (2 years – 3 years)

There was obvious advancement in the toddlers when compared with the babies. They addressed each other by name, their communication and interaction had developed, they had learnt colours and they had  deeper understandings of consequences and of the world around them.

One toddler appeared to have an issue with attachment. Every morning when his mother left him, he would throw a terrible tantrum, which involved screaming and kicking in a very violent manor. This same child had issues when being put down to nap, he cried a lot and refused to sleep.

The children understood the concept of being ‘cross’ at each other, showing that their relationships and friendships had developed with age. However, they were still entertained by simple things, for example, while playing outside, a truck pulled up and their excitement was uncontrollable - they ran to the fence to stare and wave at it. Unlike the pre-schoolers they did not need imaginary games to keep them occupied; they were perfectly content digging in a sandpit or moving water around in buckets.

Pre-school & Early Years (3 years – 5 years)

These children were able to speak and communicate relatively coherently. They had formed stronger relationships with each other – they would play games together, talk and respond. They would also respond more readily to the adults and showed greater understanding of commands, such as ‘tidy up’. They knew ABCs and other basic songs. They understood colours and enjoyed matching the colours of their plastic cups to the colours of their clothing.

As far as their language development was concerned, they had not developed ideas of pragmatics. They would talk without considering whether others had relevant context. For example, they would say “my mummy…” as if the receiver knew their mother personally, and “you know in the lion king when…” without stopping to ask whether the receiver had watched the film. This showed they made assumptions that, because they understood the context, others did too.

Children of these ages were able to understand the concept of pain. For example, a girl told me that she didn’t want her ears pierced because it would hurt. Previously, the children were unable to understand painful consequences; they would not consider that by climbing on a table they may fall and hurt themselves, or, by throwing an object they may hurt someone else. However, even pre-school children did not consider the pain of falling over when running in excitement. Their excitement and impatience outweighed their fears of pain, which maybe explains why children of this age are so often falling and grazing their knees (I speak from experience of many trips to the school staff room with blood running down my leg on to my frilly white socks!). 

Children of this age had developed ideas of gender. Girls said that nail polish and lipstick were not for boys, showing they were gathering ideas and stereotypes, allowing them to make sense of the world around them. However, girls still enjoyed books about cars and boys showed some interest in brushing hair (however, they preferred games in which they pretended to shoot each other). According to Gender Schema Theory, these children would be starting to develop their gender schemas and using them to determine what activities and objects were appropriate for them and others of their sex. Some of the older children had more developed ideas of gender which seemed to have a bigger impact on them. For example, one girl was sat alone outside, not playing with others because she was upset about wearing a ‘boys’ coat’. Despite this, children will still engage in play with others of the opposite genders. Children were not yet segregating into same sex groups and forming rivalries with the opposite sex, as can be observed in schools.

As expected, imaginary games were common. Girls would enjoy playing with dolls and performing ‘family’ style re-enactments. This can be explained by Social Learning Theory: the children will have observed and imitated role models in their environments.  Also, children seemed to be showing imitation of role models e.g. their parents, in other ways. For example, they would repeat things that had been said to them and pretend to answer phones. The children liked it when I would draw pictures for them and they attempted to copy them.

At this age, children were not very good at concentrating and their attention could not be held on one thing for sustained periods. They had lots of energy and were very excitable. They were fascinated by the nursery’s butterfly chrysalises and were very excited when we took them to the pet shop to buy some goldfish, which, comically, they named Rosie, Freddie and John!

These children, like the younger ones, formed quick relationships, for example, after less than one hour a girl had decided I was her best friend. These relationships lasted longer than with the babies; the girl remembered our friendship throughout the day. Children would call many others their ‘best friends’. This shows that having closeness to another is important to them and that they form quick attachments. It also shows some form of competitiveness, in that the children feel the need to label others with ‘best friend’, thus not allowing other children to have the same, exclusive, relationship with that child.

While watching girls playing on a rope swing, I observed that the more fun an activity or object is, the less likely the children will share it and consider others’ feelings. On another occasion, I noticed that one girl was being bossy and controlling over her male friend and was telling him what to do. However, he complied to this and didn’t seem to mind. A group of children made up stories about us all being part of a happy family e.g. I was the mummy, they were the brothers and sisters. This shows that children desire a happy and nurturing home environment and they seek it in others they feel comfortable with.

The children understood ideas of different ages i.e. the pre-schoolers understood ‘early years’ children were older. This shows they are able to think beyond themselves and their immediate situation. They also understood ideas of growing up, moving on to school and not returning to nursery. However, a lot of these ideas seemed like they had been rehearsed and repeated from what their parents had told them.

I very much enjoyed working with these children. I discovered what it was like to be used as a climbing frame and to be the subject of hair dressing from four year olds. Also, I got the chance to play in a ball pit for the first time in 10 years! This was a very rewarding, interesting and enlightening experience.