Children’s Research

Child BB had a dried flower stem in his hand, which he was looking at. He was trying to fold the stalk over and was interested in the dried seeds on the flower pod. He tried to explore the stalk with his mouth, before his mum took it away from him

Girl A played in the water tuff tray, scooping water and shells into a net/scoop. During this time she spoke to the FGT Staff who were stationed at the tuff tray. A boy joined the tray activity. Initially she just watched as he spoke to the FGT Staff about the type of fish in the tray, but then Girl AA joined in and then had a brief conversation with the boy.

They then went on for a wander around the site, running around but stopping every now and then to look at each of the different flowers. They explored the area with pebbles, taking the pebbles and then pouring them on the other, non pebbled, side. They then sat down and started kicking their legs and hands around in it.

B2 was sitting quietly interacting with each of the craft materials available. They picked out each of the different materials, looked at them, touched them, and then moved onto the next object to explore.

This child had taken an interest in the wheelbarrow, which they would take around the site looking for acorns to place inside the wheelbarrow so ‘they could grow.

When asked what they liked best about the site, two children (one after the other) recorded that they liked coming to eat figs. This is another example of echoic behaviour that was present in Love you.

Child K was focused on filling a small wheelbarrow with sand from the sandpit for about 10 minutes, occasionally interacting with their parent, who was sitting on the side of the sandpit. Child K then found an acorn on the ground and buried it in the sand in the wheelbarrow. They repeated this several times.

Child A sat at the craft table with three other children, making a butterfly using card and glitter/glue. “I like the arts and crafts” (echoing what another child said). Then made a giraffe using a tube and ‘crinkly paper’. They asked an adult to sound out some words for them as they wrote them down/mark maked. They engaged in the activity for about 20 minutes.