Boys will be Boys
...assess factors that might influence differences in girls’ and boys’ activity levels. Method I conducted a naturalistic observation viewing children between the ages of 3 to 5, at play at the Hemisfair Park downtown. There consisted of six males and two females. In observing the children I plan to make note of the social maturity in all types of general patterns of play. Then am going to compare the types of play with whom is engaging in such play in terms of gender. Also, in this observance I am going to compare the physical activity in the general patterns of play of both genders. General Patterns of Play to look for: Of the age ranges there are different types of play that are expected to be fulfilled in the children upon my observance. Such are those of solitary play, onlooker play, parallel play, associative play, and cooperative play. In each of the patterns of play I will also be aware of the imagination that is to be used by the children in fulfilling their play as well as their dramatic play roles. This naturalistic observance is at a playground and therefore it should not be surprising that social play and fantasy play occur rarely in such areas and that most of the children’s time there is spent instead in physical play (p.99). Because a playground is a scene to bring out physical activity it serves as a crucial environment to my observation. Description of Subjects: The subjects are children between the ages of 3 and 5. There are a total of 8 children and all of which are Hispanic and there is six boys and two girls. It is observed that two of the boys are familiar with each other. There is little to no parental involvement in the play of these subjects. Both girls and boys are energetic and unhesitant to express their excitement as they explore and discover the different parts of this playground. Results and Discussion The children have engaged in parallel play as they run rapid and yell excitement within this playground with the acknowledgment that others are also doing the same. This is obvious as it can be seen as each will move out of the way for the others when crossing paths and or one child is helping another climb off the steps. Although, this type of play is not at the highest of social maturity and is expressed by both genders, the play pattern does take a shift as time has progressed. In some period of time, this parallel play of social interaction amongst most of the children between the age ranges of three to five was heighten as a game of “Super heroes” was developed. Interestingly, the children who engaged in this game were boys. The dramatic play roles by the boys seemed to one that imitated the television show of the “Power Rangers” as each child created his or her own weapon with either a stick and or a motion with the hands or feet. The boys were very co-operative in following each others imagination as if to feed of each of the inventive thoughts and ideas. In observing the other children, most were occupied with the sand and pebbles present in the floor of the playground. These children often would examine the texture of these pebbles as they would bury their arms and sometimes feet in them. Occasionally, these individuals, regardless of gender would run about the playground. Although, almost all the children displayed parallel play, at some point in time the children of both sexes engaged in cooperative play. In some instances, groups of children of both sexes would build mountains with the pebbles. At the same time, the same individuals would take turns in gathering little sticks to be used as all sorts of things such as cars, bridges, and the point of the mountains. In most of this observation it was recorded that the boys did tend to stay together in their activities and often would be more active in rough play displayed in their dramatic roles, whereas the girls tended to stick to parallel play in the pebbles. The girls did participate in cooperative play in building the mountains bu...