CHAPTER ONE 1.0 Introduction Play has no tight definition. It may be a thing done for pleasure or a game or an amusing interaction with people or a set of activities performed in the context of recreation or a non- serious activity. It depends on the context and the circumstances. 1.1 Background Specialists recognize that play is a critical aspect of child development. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published in 2006 a study entitled “the importance of play in promoting healthy child, development and maintaining strong parents-child bonds.” The study shows that free play is healthy and essential for helping children reach important social and emotional development; it also helps children manage stress. The United Nations Convention on the rights of the child (Article 31) recognizes the rights of children to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life hence promotes social skills and values. Therefore children should be given a chance to play and interact freely. Among the educators who contributed towards ECDE curriculum, Fredrick Froebel of (1782-1852), who was the father of kindergarten, spent most of his time developing a system of education for young children. He emphasized that children must enjoy and be happy when learning and the best way of doing this was through allowing children to play using toys as this helped them to develop the skill of manipulation. He also said that play is very important because it helps children bring out what is inside them. Jean Piaget who was also an educator of (1964) emphasized that through play children learn best when they are actively involved. For example when children play together, they come to learn skills like language skills,, manipulation skills, observation skills and exploration skills as this is supported by

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use of concrete materials, therefore as ECDE teachers, we should use play and concrete materials for children. Maria Montessori who was also an educator of ECDE also emphasized that children grow, develop and learn well when all needs are met for example, she suggested that as children like playing and sitting on the floors she advised ECDE teachers to let them work and play on mats as this set them free among themselves.

1.2 Statement Of The Problem Play is an important part in early childhood development especially from infancy stages onwards. Therefore the researcher found it necessary to carry out the study to come up with solutions or findings showing the significance of play in young children during their development, both at school and home. For example young children may encounter the following problems: - Lack of creativity among themselves - Lack of skills e.g. manipulative, social - Lack of opportunities to build up mental structures. This study will enable the researcher to find out how teachers can deal with this problems in pre-schools brought about by lack of play in the development of young children. 1.3 Purpose Of Study The study of this topic will help the researcher to be able to state the meaning of play and how it is important to the learning of children and examine the impact of play on young children. The researcher will also be able will also be able to investigate the activities and materials used in play in ECDE centres by teachers.

1.4 Objectives Of The Study i) To identify the significance of play in the learning of children in the

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ECDE centres ii) To identify the advantages and disadvantages of play to the children in ECDE centres iii) To identify the materials used in play in the ECDE centres for the learning of children. iv) To find out the types of play in the ECDE centers for the learning of children.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study will help both teachers and parents to have in mind the significance of play and apply it during the development of children both at home and at school during the learning process. It will also assist teachers and philosophers in their planning of activities and materials used in learning according to the needs and interest of the children in ECDE centers.

1.6 Delimitation and Limitations 1.6.1 Delimitations During the study, the researcher anticipates to interact well with the school environment and receive free interaction with the children in their play grounds using their materials. The researcher will be able to investigate the different kinds of play children are involved in and teachers will be able to answer most of the questionnaires. Language will not be a barrier as the respondents will be able to speak English as they usually do as their common language in the compound.

1.6.2 Limitations Due to the rainy seasons, morning hours may become chilly and this will make the study uncomfortable and inconvenient. The study may

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also become difficult due to the location of the research centre which may be a bit far hence make data collection tiresome.

1.7 Operational Definitions Of Terms Kindergarten — this is the name given to children’s School Specialists — these are people who are knowledgeable on a given subject or something. ECDE — Early Childhood Development Education

CHAPTER TWO 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction This section is to demonstrate or show the importance of play, types of play and materials used to enhance play. Also it shows what others scholars have recorded down about play.

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Play is any pleasurable game or an amusing interaction with people or a set of activities performed in the context of recreation or non-serious activity. It depends on the context and the circumstances.

2.2 Importance Of Play In ECDE Play helps children to learn something of their ability and how they compare with their peers. For example they develop their self-insight. Play helps children to raise their moral standards because as they play, they learn what constitutes right or wrong, fair or unfair. Children also acquire desirable personality traits in the course of their play activities of generosity, honesty and co-operatives ness. Children also learn appropriate set role in their play experience. Fredrick Froebel (1782-1852) a philosopher and the father of kindergarten emphasized that children should enjoy and play using toys as this helped them to develop the skill of manipulation. He valued play and the outdoor environment highly, believing that both space were essential for learning. He considered free-flow play to be something all children shared in common and that by seeing each child as individual, early year’s practitioners could provide appropriate and sensitive help in order to support development and learning. He believed that through different types of play children could experiment with resources and materials develop an understanding of how things work, use their imaginations, be creative and act out experiences. Froebel saw the garden as the best environment for young children’s learning and development. Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) a philosopher considered play to be a crucial element in development, recognizing that children learned through social relationships and interactions. He saw play as creating a zone of proximal development. He belied that what a child could do with support today, he can do it alone tomorrow (vygotsky 1978)

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He says a child is able to work within their own capabilities in the zone of actual development but with assistance from adults or more skilled peers they are able to extend their thoughts and work within the zone of proximal development. He says that children need opportunities to build mental structures and these are assisted in their development by the use of language. Therefore it’s important that through play children have the opportunity to extend their understanding and use of language as communication tool and help them master higher mental functions.

Susan Isaacs (1885-1948) emphasized on the importance of imaginative play and the outdoor play environment which encourage the children to make good use of outdoor space in developing exploration and enquiry. She recognized the importance of play on emotional development of children as this helped them to deal with fears and empathize with others. She also recognized the impact of poor treatment from adults on children’s emotional development, concluding that adults should interact with young children in a positive and peaceful way, avoiding being sarcastic or breaking promises but answering their questions in a sensitive manner.

Maria Montesori (1870-1952) who was also an educator of ECDE emphasized that children grow, develop and learn well when all needs are met. She suggested that as children like playing and sitting on floors she advised ECDE teachers to let them work and play on mats as this set them free among themselves. She recognized play as the main vehicle for learning and children should be given opportunity to have long uninterrupted play as this encourages the use of their senses to explore and discover. She believed that children learn best through using their senses and should be developed prior to intellect and hence promote intellectual

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and cognitive development.

B.F Skinner (1904-1990) regarded play as a means of rewarding children after periods of learning rather than a means of learning according to his behaviorist theory of learning. This is because children are to play after doing the learning of a concept in order to help them to master that concept. TINA Bruce defines free —flow play as a network of related processes which include struggle, exploration, manipulation, discovery and practice, all catalysts to children’s development. Play allows children to explore and express ideas; emotions and feelings. Play can be seen as emotionally therapeutic providing a safe outlet for tension. Children have the opportunity to experience feelings learning to cope with those more rationally. Play provides opportunities for relaxation and contact with others. Play enables children to use excess energy. Play enables children to practice skills, preparing them for the next stage in their development.

Play challenges children’s problem solving skills, developing their cognitive, manipulative and social skills which contribute to their all-round intellectual growth. Play enables children to master learning through developing perseverance, social interactions, self —esteem and self-confidence. Jean Piaget (1964) who was also an educator emphasized that through play children learn best when they are actively involved. For example when children play together, they come to learn skills like language skills, manipulation skills, observation skills and exploration skills as this is supported by the use of concrete materials therefore ECDE teachers should mostly use concrete materials during learning and mostly during playing.

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2.3 Types of play Play is very important and is termed as children’s “work”. It helps them to explore their environment and become increasingly knowledge about it. They develop their body and achieve control of their muscles. They also develop creativity throughout music, dance and art.

2.4. a) Creative Play This is whereby children are encouraged to experiment and explore the world around them. It helps them to discover, through their senses, the properties of different materials. If provided with a range of activities they can develop physical, social, emotional and intellectual skills. They should enjoy the process more than the result or end product, however all children should be praised for their efforts so that they feel pride and satisfaction rather than disappointment and frustrations. These activities involve painting and drawing, collage, constructions e.g. modeling.

2.3.1 Physical Play It’s a type of play in which children use their large muscles and exercise their whole body. They learn to control large and small muscles and develop co-ordination and surplus energy is expended. When children grow older, physical play may lead to enjoyment of more competitive sporting and athletic activities. Physical play helps children to develop the skills of jumping, running, kicking during football, climbing objects, to learn about heights.

2.3.2 Manipulative Play It involves children using their hands. “by the end of the of the foundation stage most children will be able to “handle tools, objects, constructive and malleable materials safety and with increasing control”

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Children develop hand-eye coordination as they usually concentrate carefully or what they are doing, sight and touch are, therefore, important parts of manipulative development. Therefore it is important to provide appropriate and stimulating materials for gross and fine development during play. - Gross manipulation play encourages the use of the whole hand (arm) or leg to grasp, push or hit. - Fine manipulation play encourages the use of the finger muscles of the fingers and thumb. This type of play helps children to: - Develop language and mathematical skills by counting items, describing activity. Etc. - Develop their perception by observing what happens during their play. - Develop their cognitive skills by sorting and matching shapes. - Express themselves through manipulative play activities

2.3.3 Imaginative Play It is where children pretend they are other people or that they are in situations. At other times play is instigated by early year’s practitioners so that children can explore familiar or new situations and fantasy worlds. Imaginative is an excellent way of developing children in many ways. They develop skills e.g. manipulative, social, emotional, sharing, self—confidence and language and communication skills.

2.3.4 Exploratory Play This is whereby children are enabled to discover how things work. Children for example toddlers become curious when handling and examining many different objects. For example they discover that musical toy makes a pleasant sound when they pull a string or press a button. Examining a shadow on the

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floor. All theses are opportunities for children to explore their surroundings

2.3.5) Social Play Children playing together in several games for example hide and seek, rounders, curdling, running etc. they learn the skills of sharing, cooperation and honesty.

2.4 Materials And Resources Creative play: toys, trolleys, paddling pool, small slide, sand and water tray, sit —and-ride toys, skipping ropes, balls and beanbags. Physical play: — seesaws and rockers, play tunnels, slides, swings, climbing frames, ropes and rope ladders, sit-and-ride toys, tricycles, bicycles etc. Manipulation play:- soft toys, building bricks, pull-along toys, balls to roll, construction toys, pushing toys.. Imaginative play: - farm, office, hairdressers, beach, school, variety of homes. According to Vygotsky of (1896-1934) he said that “what a child could do with support today, he can do it alone tomorrow”. This is true because as children develop and interact with materials she becomes more creative and when assisted by the peers or adult friends he works more perfectly as children are believed to be good in mastering ideas, for example they don forget easily. Children learn best when they manipulate materials on their own than if they are being done for, therefore play enables children to do things on their own perfectly. As a researcher this study will give with solutions to assist teachers and parents to know the importance of play in young children especially in the pre-school centres in —order to promote holistic development. According to Susan Isaacs of (1885-1948) she stressed on the use of environment of outdoor space by young children during play. This is

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true because when children play together in the playground they become social and make good relationship with the other children hence help them to overcome fear of the others and to feel for one another. She also coincides with vigotsky saying that parents or adults should treat children in a positive way by avoiding being sarcastic hence affecting them emotionally and this may make children to loose interest in participating in play hence interfering with their development aspects. Therefore the researcher should carry out a study on the types of activities that promotes the emotional development in pre-school children to avoid isolation and lack of motivation in children. With time play becomes more social in nature. Play begins to include increasing amounts of co-operative play in which children “work” (play). Together and each contributes to achieve some result. As children are best friends to their parents, therefore, they should play with parents whenever they can. Children learn by talking to adults, encourages children to discover new ways of playing games. Happy and healthy children should always be playing. Therefore parents should find out what the problem is with the child both at home and school. Play helps children to be absorbed in it hence they become happy as play produces feeling of satisfaction and achievement. It also prevents children from being bored as this can quickly lead to bad temper, irritability, and destructiveness. It makes them feel familiar and therefore less frightening for example by playing “schools”, a child becomes familiar with the idea of going to school; this will help to reduce any nervousness about school which the child might have. In the same way, playing “doctors” and “nurses” can help prepare a child for a stay in hospital. An outdoor play ground should have grassy areas for running and playing games and hard surface areas for wheel toys. Sand and water areas add interest and variety to active play. Play ground should have plenty of climbing equipment scaled to children’s

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sizes. Climbing structures may include plastic and wooden structures. Outdoor materials for example swings and climbing equipment should be anchored to prevent tipping in unpaved playground, equipments logs should be sunk deeply into the ground so that they are not uprooted during play. Play areas should be free from items that could hurt children. Make daily checks for such dangerous items as broken glasses, splintered climbing equipment and tacks on the floor. Children should have easy access to drinking water during and after play to replenish fluids lost through perspiration. During warm weather, outdoor active play should be conducted in shaded areas. Water play helps children keep cool during warm months. Play may be seen as very important in the growth and development of children but to some extent it may appear disadvantageous both to parents and teachers at home and school. Play materials may be expensive to purchase especially those that are already made and sold in markets hence it forces both the parents and teachers to spend a lot of money in buying them. Therefore they are advised to go for materials of low prices but very attractive or improvise from locally available materials. Daily maintenance for example greasing moveable parts of climbers or balances may be expensive and also cleaning them everyday may be difficult. Storage of some materials may not be easy as some of them are huge and some are fixed on the ground. During play, monitoring of children may be tiresome to the teacher depending on the number of different activities as children may be scattered all over the playground hence supervision becomes difficult. CHAPTER THREE 3.0 Research Methodology3.1 Introduction In this chapter the researcher will look into the following areas: - Research design - Location of the study - Target population

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- Sampling techniques and sample size - Research instrument - Procedures of the study

3.2 Research Design The research design appropriate for any particular study depends on the nature of problem being investigated. Especially when using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. In this case the researcher will use both approaches and specifically the study will consider survey as the most appropriate design. Survey is a research design where an attempt is made to collect data from a particular population in relation to social phenomena. When choosing survey the researcher had the following advantages in mind. - It seeks to obtain information that describes a phenomena by asking individuals about their perception about behavior or value. - It can also be used for exploring of two existing status occurring at the same time.

3.3 Location Of The Study The study would be conducted in Turbo zone, Eldoret west district. This is an area where there is lack of enough materials for children to enhance their development during play.

3.4 Target Population For this study, it will target the following groups of people. - All pre- school teachers in the case study centre - All children undergoing ECDE in this centre - The head teacher of the ECDE centre of the study By selecting the following people or population the researcher had the following reasons for that;

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Pre-school teachers — these are the curriculum implementers and therefore know what happens when children lack play. They also know the types of materials appropriate and suit the ability and interest of the learners. As they participate in the supervision and monitoring of children as they play they know the activities and play types that children are mostly interested in. head teachers — they participate in the success of children during play through keeping /storing and maintenance of materials by replacing the spoilt ones and purchasing of more materials. Children — they are the ones who use these materials hence are able to explain their importance and suitability.

3.4 Sampling Technique And Sample Size To select the sample population the researcher will use random sampling method. Random sampling method is a method where all in the targeted population have an equal chance of participating in the study. Random sampling had the following advantages over other methods. - Each in the target population has an equal chance of participating on the study. - There is a possibility of getting a fair representation

3.5 Research Instrument In almost all research studies, the data collection tools to be used depends on the kind of information to be used collected. The data may be qualitative. In this study the researcher will use both questionnaires and interview methods. The questionnaire will be used on head teacher and the pre-school teacher while interview will be used on children to collect information. A questionnaire is a set of questions set by a researcher to be answered by a respondent by filling in the spaces

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through writing.

CHAPTER FOUR4.0 ConclusionThe researcher has managed to collect adequate information on the research topic under the literature review. The researcher has also chosen the right research design that will ensure maximum efficiency in data collection and analysis. From the secondary data obtained, it is very clear that play is an important issue in learning among ECDE learners. The researcher is therefore focused on going to the field, collect data and present a well analyzed report.

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Reference: Eshiwani, G. (1990). Implementing educational policies in Kenya. Washington, DC: The World Bank. Barnett, W.S. (1995). Long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes. The Future of Children, 5(3), 25-30. Benavot, A. (1992). Education, gender and economic development: A cross-national analysis. J. Wrigley (Ed.), Education and gender equality (pp. 25-48). Washington, DC: The Falmer Press. Bogonko, S. N. (1992). A history of modern education in Kenya (1895- 1991). Nairobi, Kenya: Evans Brothers Ltd.

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Boocock, S. S. (1995). Early childhood programs in other nations: Goals and outcomes. The Future of Children, 5(3), 94-114. Driscoll, A., & Nagel, N. (2002). Early childhood education birth-8: The world of children, families, and educators. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Eshiwani, G. (1989). Kenya. In G. Kelly (Ed.), International handbook of women’s education (pp. 25-41). _____ New York, state, United States

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