Play And Its Effects On Early Childhood Education Acase Study Of Siranga Primary School, Ukwala Division, Ugenya District- Kenya.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION.

APPROVAL

DEDICATION jj~

ACKNOWLEDGMENT iv

DEFINITION OF TERMS v

TABLE OF CONTENTS vi

LIST OF TABLES viii

ABSTRACT ix

CHAPTER ONE 1

INTRODUCTION 1

1.0 Background of the study 1

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 2

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY 2

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 2

1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 3

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 3

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY 3

CHAPTER TWO 4

LITERATURE REVIEW 4

2.1 IMPORTANCE OF PLAYING TO CHILDREN 4

2.1.1 ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT 4

2.1.2 PROBLEM SOLVING 4

2.1.3 SOCIAL AND LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE 5

2.1.4 CONFIDENCE BUILDING 6

2.2 HINDRANCES TO CHILDREN’S PLAYING 6

CHAPTER THREE 8

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 8

3.1 DESIGN 8

vi

3.2 STUDY AREA .8

3.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY 8

3.4 INSTRUMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION 8

3.5 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE 8

3.6 STATISTICAL TREATMENT OF DATA 9

CHAPTER FOUR 10

FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS 10

4.1. PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS 10

CHAPTER FIVE 24

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 24

5.1 CONCLUSION 24

5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 25

5,3 AREAS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 25

REFERENCES 26

APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE 29

vii

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to investigate the importance of playing on the early

childhood education in Siranga primary school, Ukwala Division, Ugenya District-

Kenya.

The specific objectives of the study were to determine the profile of the respondents in

regards to: age, gender and academic level, to investigate the importance of playing in

regards to academic achievements, problem solving, social and egoistic competence

confidence building and health development and to identify the hindrance to children’s

playing the methods used to data collection were questionnaires to the teachers and focus

groups discussions with the parents.

The finding indicated that playing had positive effect on the performance of early

childhood children, playing helps children learn how to solve problems: it also indicated

that children who play learn to be confident and it indicated that lack of enough playing

materials was the major hindrance to children play.

Government should make sure early childhood centers have enough and strong playing

materials before they are licensed. The community and parents should be sensitized about

the importance of playing so that they also participate in children’s playing activities.

Schools should make sure they fulfill what is the curriculum by involving children in

playing activities.

ix