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Toddler Lab Observation

1. Children in the Classroom

In the classroom, I observed there were 8 children with 4 adults. The children were

diverse and not all acted the same. There were some children who were excited to be there in

class and went right to the centers to play and explore, while others came in crying or very shy

and stood around waiting for someone to engage with them. The children were responsive to the

teachers. Many wanted to do art, but they had to take turns. No one got mad and complained

about having to do so, and they waited patiently when the teachers told them they had to wait

their turn. The teachers were at the student’s levels whenever they would play with them or talk

to them. They would also listen and follow the children when they wanted to play with

something else, if they needed to use the bathroom or even just get a drink of water.

2. Large-Group Activity

This was one of my favorite parts to watch as I observed. Once the teachers said it was time

to go to group activity they started singing a song to get the children’s attention and to let them

know that it was time to change activities. When the children got to the area, the teachers told

them what they were going to be doing. They were each given a bracelet with bells on them to

stay active in the story that was read. Most of the children were pretty engaged during this part,

but when they sang the song, “Banana’s and Potatoes” most of them lost interest and just looked

at the teachers who were singing and dancing.

3. “Center-time”

Observing center time was one of my favorite things to do. There were many different

options for the children to pick from and most children explored everything that was put out for
them. The centers that were available were: art, cause and effect, sensory, flop and drop,

dramatic play, blocks and trains, gross motor and fine motor. For art, they had two easels where

they were given different tins with different colored paints. They were allowed to pick any art

tool they wanted to dip into the colors and paint on the paper. Cause and effect was right next to

them. They had the tables covered in paper with cars on top. Tapped to the cars were opened

markers. The children were able to drive the cars and then the marker would draw on the paper.

At the sensory table, there were tire shavings with a bunch of different sensory tools that the

children could choose from to play in. Flop and drop had books, comfy chairs, and baby dolls for

the children to explore. With dramatic play, the teachers had set up a tent for the children to go in

and out of. Outside the tent was a little campfire. There were 4 chairs with a fake fire in the

middle of them. They also had cut outs of s’mores for the children to pretend with. In the block

area, they had a rug with train tracks and trains available for the children to play with. In the

middle of the room they had the gross motor activity set up. There was tape on the ground to

outline a rectangle and at one end was the soccer net. There were four half soccer balls for the

children to kick into the net.

The children were able to pick where they wanted to go when they wanted to. At each center,

there were multiple tools or options for them to pick from. During this time, the children were

mostly focused on the teachers or on the materials. It was interesting to watch that they did not

really interact or play with one another. They were either doing their own thing with the

materials at a station, or they were playing with the teacher.

4. Physical Environment

The classroom was set up, so all the stations were easy to get to and from. They were not

super close to one another that it was too crowded but organized well. On the walls they had
some pictures, but most of the walls were covered with shelves or windows. More down on the

children’s levels were pictures of each student and their family. There were multiple times when

one of the children would point out a picture and the teachers would talk to them about which

student was in the picture.

5. Schedule

As far as I could see there was no schedule posted anywhere. There was something that may

have been a schedule, but it was on a small sheet of paper hung high on the walls. There were no

arrows, photos, or drawings that would help make it useful to children. I was thinking about how

important it might be for students to have a schedule so they know what to expected and so they

know that at a certain time or after a certain activity there will be a change.

6. Challenging Behavior

There were multiple times where a challenging situation came up. The first one I noticed was

when one of the little girls was being dropped off. When here mom brought her in she was

crying and did not want to be there. One of the teachers went up to her and said hi and she went

right to the teacher, while still crying. The mom left, and the teacher held her and tried soothing

her by talking to her. Finally, she took her over to an activity to work on and that was able to

distract her from being sad about being there. There was also a time when everyone wanted to do

the paint activity. There were already two students doing it and about 4 more students came over

wanting a turn. One of the teachers looked overwhelmed, but was able to tell them they had to

wait their turn and sent them to go do sensory or the cause and effect activity. None of the

students got mad, which surprised me, but went to go do something else.

7. Overall Impression
 As I observed this toddler lab I was really impressed with the teachers and how well they

handled themselves. I have had to observe many other labs and it seems to be more chaotic or all

the children aren’t able to do what they want to do. In this lab, the teachers were paying attention

to each of the students and helping them with what they want to do. They were also all very

aware of the goals each child had and were helping them throughout the class. The children all

were actively participating in the activities. As they moved from center to center, you could tell

they were gaining confidence in themselves and their surroundings. As I watched I noticed that

the teachers would always give feed back to the children. When the children were done with an

activity, especially art, the teachers would always compliment their work, or when they made a

goal they were congratulated. There was also some negative feedback, for example when the

children would put the play food in their mouths the teachers told them not to do it and that they

couldn’t play with that specific item.

8. My opinion about the classroom

Before the all the kids got there, it was interesting to pay attention to how they had the

classroom set up, how organized, and ready they were for the students. I also appreciated how

each teacher was engaged with the students. They were focusing on the students and not worried

about anything else. They also didn’t just stick with the same students. They were constantly

moving to different activities and playing with other students. One thing I would change was the

song they sang. It wasn’t open for the students to dance the way they wanted to, but they had to

do certain motions and I think that is one reason why they didn’t respond super well to it.