Naturalistic Observation

Jacob will be 2 years old on May 14. His family just moved into the neighborhood

a few months ago. Both parents are Chinese. He has an older brother, age 8.

Grandparents visiting from China live at their home. He speaks only Mandarin.

Last Sunday at 12:30, I visited Jacob at his house. His mom and he were playing

together. His mom knelt down on the carpet. She stretched both hands and held

Jacob’s hands to help him to jump. Jacob lifted up his left foot and stepped onto

mom’s right thigh, then he lifted up right foot and stepped onto mom’s left thigh. He

started to jump and giggle. After a few times he put his feet on the floor and jumped

while holding his mom’s hands. Mom sang a Chinese nursery rhyme. Jacob repeated

what his mom sang.

After a while Jacob lied down on the floor. He lifted his upper shoulder by supporting his right elbow on the floor. He turned toward his right side then his left hand came over, then both hands were on the floor. He started to walk on his hands and feet. Face looked down at the floor. His whole body shaped like an “n”. He got up tow feet jump forward to his mom. At this time the mom throw a ball to him. He holds the ball in the right hands. He turns the ball then throw the ball. The ball spins then dropped. He picked up the ball with right hand, put the ball in front of his left foot, he kicks it, then he giggles then he turn around goes back to he cough. There is a bowl of cheerios on the cough. He picked up cheerios with his right index finger and thumb and moved it to his mouth, his tough is licking his whole right palm. 12:50, I left his house because it will be his nap time soon.



The next Monday morning , I went to see Jacob in the park. I started my observation

at 10:20am. Jacob knelt down on the bark at the play ground. His right hand held a

shovel. Four containers were in front of him. Two buckets, one bear shaped container,

one castle shaped container. Jacob scooped bark and put it in the bear shaped container.

A little boy came over, picked up a spare shovel. Jacob raised his head to look at the boy.

He continued to scoop bark. He sat on his bottom and stretched out his feet. The little boy

came over, sat next to him. Jacob stopped scooping and looked at the little boy. The boy

stretched out his right hand and pulled the shovel from Jacob’s right hand. Jacob held his

shovel tight and didn’t let it go. Jacob turned his head back to check with his grandma.

Then he turned his head back again and looked at the little boy. The little boy released the

shovel. The little boy picked up a fork-shaped shovel and offered it to Jacob. Jacob took

it with left hand, then the little boy took the shovel from Jacob’s right hand. This time

Jacob let the little boy have the shovel. Jacob looked at the boy for a while then started to

use his fork to scoop the bark. The little boy found a train. He picked it up and handed it

to Jacob. Jacob reached out with his right hand. The little boy got up and walked to

Jacob’s right side and took one of the buckets. Then he came back and sat next to Jacob

again. The whole time Jacob was watching the little boy. . Since the fork-shaped shovel

didn’t work well he started to use the bear shaped container to scoop the bark. He placed

the bark on the train and then tried to bury the train.

Jacob carried his train in his left hand, and shovel in his right hand. He started

to walk around the slide. His grandma helped him to put the train on the fifth step

of the stairs. Jacob was standing on the side of the stairs. He lifted his right foot on the

first step, then put his left hand on the second step and gave a push so that his left foot

moved to the first step, too. The he raised his right foot to the second step, left hand

touched down on the third step while he still held the bark-filled shovel in his right hand.

He moved his left foot to the second step. Finally he reached the train. He dropped the

bark on the train. He decided to climb down backwards on his knee. Step by step his feet

reached the ground. He continued to cover the train with bark.

Jacob sat atop the slide with two feet stretched out and gently banged the slide. He

let the shovel drop from his left hand and watched carefully as the shovel slid down.

Then he let his train go from his right hand. Once all the toys reached the ground, he

pointed his index finger to the toys. His grandma picked up the toys and handed them to

him again. Jacob happily slid the toys down again several times. My observation ended at

11:30 am. During my observation, Jacob didn’t talk much, but he is very observant. He

was constantly watching other kids around him and listening to the sounds around him.