Child's Name: Scarlett
Age: 11 years old
Grade: 6th Grade
Hobbies: Likes reading, doing gymnastics, hanging out with sisters, and playing Roblox.
Parent's Name: Michelle
Parent Info: Michelle is a single mom and a college student working to be a teacher. Michelle works with preschool students and also does bookkeeping/accounting. She comes from a large family. Michelle's closest sibling is 7 years older than her, so Michelle did a lot of independent playing. Her kids have responsibilities around the house, including taking care of pets. Scarlett, Michelle's daughter, is the oldest of her siblings and helps out a lot with entertaining her younger sisters (makes food for them and plays with them).
Question 1: How does Scarlett usually engage with creative activities like board games, cards, etc.? Does she enjoy these activities, and how frequently does she play with them?
Response: Yes, she likes playing board games pretty often, as it is something fun to do with family and friends that does not involve electronics. Some of her favorite games are Clue, Sorry, Trouble, Uno, and matching games, all of which she plays with her siblings. Scarlett is flexible when it comes to board games because she enjoys both one-on-one games, as well as games that require a larger group. In terms of engagement, she is also very good at staying focused on the game and seeing it through - while many children would get bored halfway through and decide to move on to another game, Scarlett has a good attention span and has enough patience to sit through longer games.
Question 2: During the activity, we noticed that Scarlett was asking a lot of questions to clarify. Is this typical of how she approaches games/activities? How does it fit with her personality?
Response: Her interactions during the gameplay definitely reflect her behavior in other activities. Scarlett is a very outgoing and curious person. She has never been very shy in social settings, and her teacher has said before that she asks a lot of questions during class when she isn't understanding something fully. She also isn't afraid to ask for help when she needs it, and has good communication with her classmates.
Question 3: What role do engaging activities play in your child's learning and development? Do you encourage these types of games at home?
Response: Yes, I absolutely encourage these types of games at home. As a family, we value setting aside time each day to do an activity that is not on screens, mostly in the evening time so that we can wind down before bed. Some of these activities are of course board games like mentioned before. But the kids also enjoy drawing and coloring, which gives them more of an opportunity to express themselves creatively. We also try to do game nights with the whole family on the weekend.
Question 4: After seeing your child engage with the activity, do you think it provided any value to her learning, creativity, or play experience? Would you encourage her to do it again?
Response: Yes. I would encourage kids to play again because of the educational, emotional, and social skills they can learn. These games include strategy learning and force kids to think on their feet when they are dealt specific cards. Scarlett seemed focused and understood the rules very fast, and we were impressed because the game was not that simple since there were a lot of different types of cards, as well as multiple factors that led to the scoring each round. She seemed confident in her decisions when she was playing the games and was able to plan ahead (for example, she could determine that a card would be more helpful later in the game even though she could've used it earlier in the game). Overall, she was very motivated to learn and play Happy Little Dinosaurs.