One reason would be as a learning tool for the caregivers at the preschool. Another would be to observe the behaviour patterns of the children to decide how to better plan activities for them.

There are many reasons why we observe children, many people think that we observe young children due to a problem staff or parents may have noticed, but this is not the case, it is part of the EYFS to observe children regularly to be lept in their confidential files. Although mainly children are observed because we want to find out what stage of development they are at and whether it matches the average stage of development for their age, it could alos be that there has been a change in a child's behaviour, be observing them we will find out what causes them to react and get stressed. We can then find out if anything has been going on at home and plan activities within nursery to help them learn much easier to suit their needs, activities that will stimulate them. There is another reason why children are observed, it could be becasue a child has not been very sociable and doesnt have many friends or any at all, by observing them you can find out what is causing this, you can plan activities that encourage the children to make friends and work as a team, for example, setting out chairs in a certain way, then telling each child where to sit so that they dont favour their friends, they are then encourage to communicate and get involved with the new children around them.I could go on forever as to why children are observed but these are a few to help you with your question, hope it does help!x