Running Head: PHOTOVOICE PROJECT 1

Photo Voice Project

Kathryn Hall

Student ID: 20543319

February 12th. 2015

Rec 200: Zara Rafferty

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Introduction

Lily is my 3 and a half year old little niece, whos love and joy for play is larger

than life. However play for her differs in various ways from most young kids, as she was

born blind. Even though the ways she plays, and things she uses may differ in some ways

from other children, she still gets the same joys that play has to offer a young child. Play

is one of the biggest and most integral parts of Lilys life, and is worked into almost

everything that she does on a daily basis. Not only does she play within the walls of our

own home, but at her early intervention schooling, and also her therapeutic recreation

activities. One of the things that I admire about my little niece is her effortless ability to

discover a way to work play into any possible moment of her day. A unique thing about

her is her aptitude for bringing about playfulness in those around her, and showing adults

that play is more about the process, and not any end result. Lily lives in a household with

her mother, and her grandparents, which I also used to reside in prior to moving to

Waterloo. Lily engages in play with every member of the household on a daily basis, and

on the days in which she goes to school she engages in play with all of the children in her

classroom, as well as the various recreation therapists and teachers at her school.

Even though she will engage and play with almost anyone or anything, she does

have her favorite toys, and important people to her playtime. She plays with her mother

the most, and more often than not will call for her mom to join her more than she will call

for other children, or family members. This is due to her extremely close bond and

unconditional love for her mom, especially because she is still quite young. Although she

was unable to vocally express what toy she likes the most, when you ask her what she

wants to do, the majority of the time she will either ask for Lilys favorite little ball, or
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to listen to music. In addition to play in which involves specific objects or toys, one of

her other favorite aspects of play involves the pure interaction with people around her,

particularly singing and clapping games. This shows that human contact and interaction

at this point in her life are a crucial aspect of making play enjoyable for her.

Throughout this experience, it was really interesting to see that Lily will turn

almost anything into play, and that the smallest of things can bring her the biggest joys.

Throughout this report, 15 different play situations will be highlighted with photos I took,

and an accompanying narrative that was generated through my time playing with Lily,

and the discussions we had surrounding her life at play. The selection processes of the

photographs were different, as Lily was unable to see them. Instead, I used the insight she

gave me, along with my own personal experiences of play with her to determine what

play situations were most relevant and important in Lilys life. However, one thing that

should be noted is that even though her situation may be unique from that of others, one

thing that will always remain is her genuine love of play.

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Part I: Play Portrait

Photo #1: Braille Blocks

Lily is a 4-year-old little girl, who was born

without the sense of sight. Braille is a form

of written language for blind people, in

which characters are represented by patterns

of raised dots that are felt with the

fingertips. The concept of braille would be

difficult for any four year old to

comprehend, but when asked about her braille blocks Lily explained that they were her

ABC blocks. She further went on to explain that her mother made these for her, and she

plays with them not only at home, but also at school with her friend Annabelle and her

teacher Debbie. But she likes to play with the blocks best with her mom. The L block is

her favorite block, because L is for Lily and love. I asked her why she plays with the

blocks, and she explained, momma said knowing your ABCs is really important. I

went on to ask if she felt like playing with the blocks was work, and she said no because

she has fun with them. She said that they also make cool noises and likes all the bumps

on the blocks a lot. Playing with these braille blocks appears to be the concept of work

disguised as play occurring. While playing with the blocks, she was showing me which

letters she knew, and asked questions about the blocks that she didnt yet memorize. She

was proud to say that she knew all the letters in her name, and her teacher Debbie was

super proud of me for being such a smart little girl.

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Photo #2: Lilys computer

This is Lilys computer. Lily loves playing with her computer when she goes for car

rides. She usually only plays with her computer when she rides in her moms car, but

sometimes when she rides in grandmas car too. One time she went on a really long car

ride, but her mom forgot her computer at home, so instead she and her mom sang the

bumblebee song on her special CD her teacher Debbie made her, all the way to school

and back instead. She loves the bumblebee song, its her favorite because of all the

buzzing bee sounds she gets to make. Its really funny when she gets to squish the

bumblebee in the song. She was sad that she didnt have her computer that day, but she

had goldfish crackers to eat so it was okay that her mom forgot. Lily got her computer for

her 3rd birthday from her Uncle John. Her computer can do lots of cool things, and even

has 3 different settings, although her favorite is the animal setting. The animal setting has

a different animal name for each of the letters on the computer keyboard. Her favorite

ones are H for Hippopotamus, and L for Lion.

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Photo #3: Lamby stuffed animal

This is Lilys lamb stuffed toy that she named Lamby. Her Lamby is her nighttime

snuggle toy, and stays in her bed with her for nap time and bedtime. Her grandpa gave

her Lamby and she doesnt

let anyone else play with her.

When I asked her what her

favorite thing about her lamb

was, she said it was the

softest thing shes ever felt

and she cant go to sleep

without it. She makes sure to

show everyone how soft her

lamb is. Also, she likes her

lamb because it starts with

the letter L just like Lily

does. She sings her night time

song Mary Had a Little

Lamb with her mom or dad

before she goes to sleep

every night, and makes sure to give the lamb the biggest hug ever. Sometimes she and

Lamby dont feel like napping, so they play together instead. She isnt supposed to play

at naptime though, so she cant tell me what they play because its a secret. Lamby

always has to stay in her bed though, because she doesnt want her to get lost.
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Photo #4: Lilys favorite little ball

This is Lilys favorite little ball. Playing pass is one of her favorite things to do, and her

grandpa is the best at playing pass with her. She showed me that if you throw the ball it

makes a really funny noise on the hardwood floor that she thinks is hilarious. Her ball

doesnt just bounce though; you can roll it across the floor too. It can go super far if you

push it hard enough. The reason this is

her favorite ball is because the surface

feels really cool, and its the bounciest

ball she has. She only likes to play with

this ball, and can tell the difference right

away if someone hands her a different

one. One time she threw the ball inside

the house and it made a really big crash

and knocked over all her blocks. So she

says she has to be careful where she

plays it. She usually plays pass and catch

with somebody in the playroom of the

house. She has proclaimed herself as

being the best at throwing the ball, and

made sure to show me just how far she

can throw it.

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Photo #5: Giant ground piano

Lily described her giant piano as being the coolest thing ever. She just got her piano a

little while ago from her Dad, and its her favorite thing to play with right now. She

showed me that it makes all different sounds if you step on different parts of it. Her

favorite thing to do is to run

from one end to the other really

fast because that makes the

coolest noise of all. When

asked if she knows any songs

she said, anything can be a

song if you want, you just have

to move. She gets her mom to

videotape her making songs on

her giant piano, and likes to

listen to them after again and

again. Whenever she has friends come over to play, she always shows them her piano

first. When two people are on the piano at the same time it makes even more noise, so she

thinks thats really cool. When I asked her why it was important that we have this picture

taken, she explained that its her favorite toy to play with right now, and had to make sure

I showed it. Also, she said that this piano was cooler than any other one she has had

because it had so many different instruments you could play, you just had to step on a

different button and then the noises would completely change. She didnt have a favorite

instrument, because all the sounds were awesome.

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Photo #6: Animal sound puzzle

Lily is really, really good at puzzles. At first

theyre hard, and she needs some help

sometimes, but the more you practice at it, the

better you get she explains. Out of everyone in

the family, shes the best at puzzles she says.

Lily has a lot of puzzles, but her farm animal

puzzle is the one she likes the most because it

makes animal noises when you get the puzzle

piece in the right spot. None of her other

puzzles make noises like this one does. Santa

gave her this puzzle for last Christmas, and

wrote her a letter that her mom read to her. It

said that he knows how good she is at puzzles,

so he wanted her to have the coolest puzzle he could make. Lily always tries to be a good

girl, because Santa gives presents to good boys and girls, and his little elves always report

back to Santa what she does she says. She showed me multiple times just how fast she

can do the puzzle, and how she knows which piece goes exactly where by feeling its

shape. The cow is the biggest piece, and the kitty cat is the smallest one. She knows every

sound each animal makes, and likes to imitate them as she places the pieces in. Her

favorite animal is the rooster because it makes the funniest noise of them all. She also

likes the puppy dog piece because it barks, just like our family dog Molly. Molly is her

best friend, but doesnt bark a lot because shes a good girl.
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Photo #7: Water table

This is Lily playing with her water table, that she got for her last birthday. She usually

plays with it outside on the deck, but its too cold outside now so her mom had to bring it

inside. She likes to play with it outside in the summer the best, because she gets to put on

her swimsuit and make super big splashes. She still gets to play with her water table

inside, but always gets her clothes wet and

has to change afterwards. She has lots of

different toys to play with in her water table,

but her favorite one is her alligator toy

because it squirts water out of its mouth.

She thinks its funny when she squirts her

mom. The cup that is in her water table that

shes seen playing with in the photo makes a

cool noise when she fills it all the way up

and pours it out back into the water she

explained. Her swimming teacher taught her

this in her lessons that shes been taking. She

also has a table like this one at the school she

goes to, but her teachers fill it with rice and

sand instead of water. She likes playing with the table filled with water at home much

better. Playing with her water table is one of her favorite things to do because its just like

bath time, which is one of her favorite times of the day as well. She wants to be a

swimmer when shes older she explains, because she loves being around water so much.
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Photo #8: Lilys cane

This is Lily with her cane that was specially made to fit her when she was 2 years old.

When she is older, her cane will be used for the very functional purpose of getting her

around safely in different environments, and feelings her way around when walking. But

its purpose is much different in her life right now. Her occupational therapist has the

focus of integrating her cane into her everyday play life, and just introducing her to the

cane on a less serious level. Right now, Lily uses her cane when she goes on walks to the

mailbox and back with her mom. Although many people would not consider this an

aspect of a childs life at play, when I asked Lily to show me some of her favorite toys

this was one of the first things she wanted to show me. She is very proud of her cane, and

likes to show it off to anyone who comes into the house. When I asked her what she likes

to do with the cane, she began to show me that depending on the different things you hit

the cane against; it made some really cool and

unique sounds. Lily is a very auditory centered

child, and is drawn to noises more than anything,

which this example shows greatly. So while, in

terms of other children, and in the eyes of others

this may not seem pertinent for an assignment about

play, her cane is something she holds great pride

over and really wanted to include in the play profile.

This just goes to show that every child plays in

unique ways, and there is no sole definition of what

play is or can entail.

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Photo #9: Play Dough

Lily was really excited about showing me her collection of Play Dough, because she had

just gotten it a few days before we had taken the pictures. She got the Play Dough from

her Dad when they went to Toys R Us. Lily had never played with this kind of thing

before so she was really excited. Lily explained that she really loves the feeling of the

Play Dough. Its gooey and super sticky. Lily likes playing with Play Dough because

shes allowed to be as messy as

she wants. The thing she explained

she likes the most about playing

with Play Dough is that she can

make whatever she wants out of it.

She likes making the dough into

little balls or into snakes the

best, because other things can be

too hard to make sometimes. She

said her mom is always is there to

help her when she needs however.

She plays with the Play Dough at

the kitchen table, because it can

get really messy sometimes, and

she needs to make sure her puppy

Molly doesnt eat it because it can

make her sick.

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Photo #10: Lilys favorite book

This is Lilys favorite book right now Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Lily

showed me her bookcase in her room that is full of books, which she likes to read with

others. She showed me that all of her books have braille on the pages, so she can feel

along while her mom reads the books to her. She was super proud of the fact that after

each book is read to her only a couple times, she memorizes it word for word, and

doesnt need help anymore. She reads all kinds of books about trains, and animals, and

school time. But her favorite kinds of books are the ones about animals. The reason that

she likes this book so much is because of all the different sounds built into it. Most of the

animals are at the zoo she has gone to, which is one of one of her favorite places to go in

the summer. She hears lions roar all the time at the zoo, and it can be pretty scary and

loud. The elephant in the book makes the funniest sound, and her grandpa is really good

at making the elephant noise too. The elephant button is her favorite one to push in the

book, because it makes her happy and laugh a lot.

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Photo #11: Talking Elmo doll

Lily loves her Elmo doll, and Elmo actually talks to Lily and moves a lot. Lily says that

she got her Elmo on her last birthday from her great grandma. Lily had a really big

birthday party and ate a yummy cupcake. Cupcakes are the best thing in the whole world

to eat. All her friends came to her

birthday party, and they got to play

all day long. She got tons of presents

from everybody, and it took a really

long time to open them all. Her

friend Katherine has an Elmo doll

too, and showed Lily all the things

that it can do. Her Elmo will give her

a really big hug when she squeezes

him, and even talk to her sometimes.

She thinks that its really funny when

she holds Elmo upside down like a

sack of potatoes, she says. He says

in a really funny voice hey, put me

down, Im dizzy, she explains.

This makes her laugh. When I asked

her how this toy makes her feel she says really happy, and that he gives the best hugs.
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Photo #12: Animal fun farmhouse

When asked what this toy was Lily deemed it as her animal fun farm house. She further

went on to tell me that she likes to pretend that she lives on the farm, and has to take care

of all her chickens, and horses, and pigs. Each of her animals has a special name Lily has

given them. She has two

horses, one pig, and one

chicken, named Rainbow,

Sprinkles, Pippy, and

Clucky respectively. Her

farmhouse stays in the

playroom of her house,

where she tends to do most

of her playing, especially

in the cold winter months

when she cant go outside.

Lily says she usually plays with her farmhouse alone, and likes to make the animals talk

to each other. She explains that even though they all make different noises, they

understand each other still, and so does Lily. She likes the horses the best, but cant

choose which of them is her favorite because the other one might get sad if she does. The

chicken wakes all the other animals up in the morning and then they play together in the

barn. The animals love to go down the slide, which is outside of the barn doors. Lily likes

going down slides too, but its too cold to go to the playground right now. She has to wait

till theres no snow on the ground her mom told her.

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Photo #13: Playing patty cake

and singing songs

Throughout the time that I have

spent around Lily, and

especially through the duration

of this play project, the thing

Lily asked to do the most was to

play patty cake, and sing songs.

When I asked whom she wanted

to play patty cake with, almost

always she asked for her mom.

She would be willing to play

with anyone if her mom wasnt

available at that moment

however. Whenever Lily would

sit down in someones lap to play, almost immediately she would begin singing and

grabbing the persons hands, guiding the clapping motion. She said that patty cake was her

favorite song, because her mom taught it to her. She changed the words though, so they

always mark the bread with an L for Lily. When asked if Lily likes singing, she said

she loves it, and they sing songs every time she is at school, and every time she is in the

car as well. Her teacher makes them special CDs all the time, and she likes to sing the

songs with her mom, and play clapping games along with them.
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Photo #14: Musical dog toy

This was one of the first toys that Lily

remembers getting. She said that she

used to use it with her grandma to learn

the head, shoulders, knees and toes

song. She would press different parts of

the dog, and the dog would sing out the

body part she was pressing on. When

asked the three things she likes best

about the dog stuffed animal she replied

that he has a really funny voice, his ears

feel cool, and when you press his tummy

he giggles really loud because it tickles.

Lily loves being tickled, just like the

doggy does she says. He doesnt just

help Lily with knowing the different parts of a body though, he also sings songs and the

alphabet too she says. You can change what he does by pressing his feet and his hands.

Whenever he sings the alphabet, she likes to sing along with him. Lily can sing the

alphabet all by herself now, and shes really proud of this. Dogs are Lilys favorite

animals in the whole wide world, and for her friends birthday party a little while ago

they had lots of puppies come and play with them. She got to pet all of them, and their fur

was really soft. Lily has a dog of her own, named Molly. She likes to play fetch with

Molly, and Molly always brings the ball right back to Lily so she can throw it for her.
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Photo #15: Listening to music

Lily absolutely loves music. She likes all different kinds of music. She has tons of CDs,

and her mom also lets her listen to the music on her phone if she asks. Lily doesnt really

have a favorite song right now, because there is too many to choose from. But in this

photo she was listening to one she really likes called Kiss A Girl by Keith Urban. Lily

listens to music almost everywhere, especially since she can take her headphones with

her wherever she goes, and plug them into her moms phone and listen. Lily likes that she

now has these headphones because sometimes she has to go to the doctors office or

grocery shopping with her mom, and now she can listen to her favorite songs wherever

she goes. She goes on to tell me that she also listens to music in the car, in the TV room,

in her playroom. Sometimes when her and her mom lay down in bed they like to listen to

music together too. She also likes to listen

to music when she has her bath at night

before bed, but she cant wear her

headphones in the tub. Instead her mom

plays the music right from her phone. Its

really easy for Lily to learn the words she

tells me, she just has to listen to the song a

couple times and then she knows every

word. Sometimes she holds concerts for

her family in the TV room. They all clap

and cheer for her, which makes her feel

really happy inside.

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Part II: Reflection Question #1

Lily exhibited a combination of the eight essential characteristics of play outlined

by Isenberg and Jalongo (1997). The most apparent one demonstrated in her play was the

element of free choice, which creates a state of mind that allows her to feel playful

(Henle, 2013). Lily has an abundance of toys, enabling her to choose from countless

things to play with. It is thus a rare occurrence to ever find her not engaging in play, due

to her pure love for it. Her play is never driven by external demands, meaning her

engagement is completely voluntary. Since Lily isnt able to see where her toys are,

instead she will vocalize what she wants to play with, or will walk around and feel until

she finds a toy suitable to her liking.

Another crucial characteristic of her play was the aspect of positive effect,

meaning it is pleasurable (Isenberg & Jalongo, 1997). Regardless of the tone of play, or

whether it may be enjoyable or seem like play to others, it provided Lily with a positive

experience and was regarded as pleasurable to her. She expressed countless times that the

play endeavors she chose, and specific toys like her Elmo made her happy and laugh. I

can vouch that through almost all of Lilys play she was smiling and overcome with

laughter.

Another trait displayed was the aspect of intrinsic motivation. Henle explained

intrinsic motivation as play engaged in for its own sake, with no external driving forces

or feelings of obligation (2013). An example where this can be seen is when Lily plays

clapping games with others. She engages in these purely for the joy she gets out of it. No

external benefits are accumulated, as there is no end-goal she is trying to reach, or

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reward for playing these types of games. Instead, this activity is done for her own sake

and purely chosen because she feels happy why engaging in them.

Lastly, the majority of her selections were active. According to Henle (2013),

active play includes elements of exploration, experimentation, manipulation, and

interaction with the environment (p. 18). The activities Lily participates in not only

require thought and movement, but also the key elements drawn from Henle above. For

example, the puzzle that makes animal sounds commands Lily to feel around for the

pieces and try to fit them into their corresponding spots. Although it is a quite difficult

task for her at times, she continues to experiment and move the pieces so she can hear the

different noises she enjoys. Another example of active play is when she creates songs on

her large ground piano. She will dance and run around for what seems like hours,

creating her own combination of sounds and songs through experimentation.

Reflection Question #2

It is unquestionable, due largely in part to the fact that Lily lacks the sense of

sight that a large majority of her play falls into the functional category. Functional play is

characterized on the principles of being simple, repeated movements with objects,

people and language (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2014, p.64), which enable learning of

essential skills. Her braille blocks provide an extremely functional purpose of introducing

Lily to braille, which she will need for the rest of her life. She is still fairly young to

begin formal braille lessons, but these blocks allow her to begin to form a familiarity with

this form of dialect. Lily is an extremely bright child, and has begun to develop an

understanding of braille through her play with these blocks on a daily basis. With the

repetitive use of the blocks, and through a vocal reiteration from adults around her, Lily
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has begun to learn the spelling of her name in braille. What may seem like a small victory

is truly a massive accomplishment for her and her journey of learning a fundamental skill

for her life.

Lily is an extremely social child, who practically demands that others play along

with her. Among the levels of social play discussed in the lecture Defining Play,

derived from Isenberg and Jalongo, Lily participates in the two highest interactive levels.

She almost always is partaking in either associative play, or cooperative play (Isenberg &

Jalongo, 2014). Lily houses the capacity to use her sharing skills, and openly interact

with those around her, being core characteristics of these types of play. Occasionally she

engages in associative play, where the activity is more loosely organized. But the

majority of the time she partakes in cooperative play. This involves a higher level of

interaction and working towards a common goal with others (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2014).

Examples of this are when Lily plays pass with her favourite little ball, or when she

creates different structures with play dough with the help of others. What is important to

note is that Lily is almost always the one negotiating roles, leading the play situation,

and asking questions throughout the play process. These are all key elements in both

associative and cooperative play that Isenberg and Jalongo (2014) outlined, and thus why

her play falls under these categories.

Reflection Question #3

We explored a variety of modern and classical theories in class, but one in

particular related closest to Lilys play life. This was the Socio-Cultural Theory,

developed by Lev Vygotsky. The central idea in this theory is that play is one of the

leading factors in cognitive development in children (Farr, 2014). A crucial factor that
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sets his theory apart from others is that play is not reflecting the cognitive developmental

changes happening, but play is what causes the development in a childs mind. Vygotsky

was also a big advocate for the idea that play helps a child develop meaning and

conceptual understandings of the world (Farr, 2014). In Lilys case, play is a big

component of her life as the vast majority of her day is spent engaging in it. The ways she

develops concepts and connects things in the world stem foremost from the toys she plays

with; a major component of this theory. Take for example her computer toy, where each

letter of the alphabet corresponds with animals and words beginning with the same letter.

Through her play with this toy, for example she is now able to understand and reiterate

that the letter C stands for cat or carrot. Another key component of the theory is

the assumption that through social interactions with adults and peers, a child is shown

and taught the way society interprets and responds to the world. Furthermore, an

understanding of the meanings that are attached to objects, events, and experiences

(Hurst, 2013). An example of this is when she plays with her Elmo doll. The doll speaks

and responds to certain stimuli or in the way she treats or handles the doll. If it is being

handled in a rough manner, it responds vocally in a way that lets her know it isnt

enjoyable to Elmo. Instead, if Lily hugs the doll and speaks in a loving manner, Elmo

will hug her back and respond encouragingly. Vygotsky also believed that the languages

children hear are the source of their conceptual understandings of the world (Hurst,

2013). This is demonstrated with Lily as she takes what she hears from Elmo, absorbs it,

and practices and imitates it in other aspects of her life. Due to the various factors

discussed, as well as a great deal of other things exemplified in Lilys play, it is easy to

see that Vygotskys Social-Cultural Theory relates the most directly to Lilys play life.
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References

Farr, T. (2014) Vygotskys Theory of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from

https://blog.udemy.com/vygotskys-theory-of-cognitive-development/

Henle, S. (2013). Introduction to play. In R. McCarville & K. MacKay (Eds.), Leisure for

Canadians, Second Edition (pp. 15-22). State College, PA: Venture Publishing.

Hurst, M. (2013). Lev Vygotskys Theory of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/lev-vygotskys-theory-of-cognitive-

development.html

Isenberg, J., & Jalongo, M. (1997). Creative expression and play in early childhood (2nd

ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Isenberg, J., & Jalongo, M. (2014). Supporting children's play, games, and inventions.

Creative thinking and arts-based learning, Sixth Edition (pp. 43-92). Boston, MA:

Pearson.

Vygotsky, L. (1976). Play and its role in the mental development of the child. In J.

Bruner, A. Jolly, & K. Sylva (Eds.), Play: Its role in development and evolution

(pp. 537-554). New York, NY: Penguin Books.