The observation started at 1:00 PM and ended at 3:00PM on the 8th of April, 2016. The child observed, Nika, was three years and one month old. She was in a playroom of the kindergarten with a boy of the same age.
At the moment when the observation began Nika was choosing a toy from a toy box. She was picking up dolls, cars and other objects and putting them aside. In a minute Nika put a toy sofa, armchairs and two bathtubs carefully on the carpet. Then she took a small baby doll, placed it into one of the bathtubs. Sounds made by the boy distracted her, so she looked at what he was doing. Nika came up to the boy and said “Give me the ball”. She took the ball, frowned and dropped it. A moment later Nika started laughing, looking at the boy. They both laughed. Nika picked up the ball again and ran away from the boy who wanted to take the ball from her. There was a table, and the children started running round it. Shortly afterwards Nika threw the ball at a distance of about three meters. The children ran to the ball, shouting. There was a quick fight between Nika and the boy as they both tried to grab the ball. In the end Nika said “Play yourself. I don’t need the ball” and turned away from him.
For a while the girl stood still, looking at the floor. Then she came back to the dolls, took out some more toys from the box and continued her game.
Nika was busy with the toys for about ten minutes. After that she stood up and started searching for more toys on the shelves. She was attracted by a purple elephant mask on a higher shelve, so she brought a stool to reach it. Nika examined the mask which had a long nose, then took it by the nose and started hitting other toys with the mask. They boy came to Nika and tried to take the mask away from her. The children fought a little, the boy snatched it from her hands and put it on his face. Nika giggled, she pulled the elephant’s nose, but the boy started running around the room. The girl ran after him. Shortly afterwards Nika noticed a mouse mask among the toys on the floor, picked it up and put it on her face. Now the boy started running after her, while Nika was shouting “You won’t catch me!”
Some time later Nika came up to the blackboard, swiped her finger along it, then took a white chalk and made a couple of curves. She picked up a blue chalk and made some parallel lines on the board. The boy who was looking at her ran up to the board, took a chalk and drew something on what Nika had made. Nika moved to the right and made new lines, but the boy spoilt them, too. The girl said “What are you doing?” and tried again to draw, but the boy disturbed her and Nika started crying.
The kindergartener hugged Nika, comforting her.
Then they started looking at pictures in a book.
