INFLUENCE OF PLAY ACTIVITIES ON THE HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF PRE SCHOOL CHILDREN IN ATIBA LOCAL GOVERNMENT,OYO ,OYO STATE

Abstract

This study was on influence of play activities on the holistic development of preschool children in Atiba local government. Four objectives were raised which included; Find out the types of play and use the importance of play in the preschool, identify and understand that development of children take place in sequential order, simple to complex and discuss the roles of educators in the holistic development of pupils through play. A total of 77 responses were received and validated from the enrolled participants where all respondents were drawn from some selected nursery and primary school in Atiba local government area. Hypothesis was tested using Chi-Square statistical tool (SPSS).

Chapter one

Introduction

1.1Background of the study

The history of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) refers to the development of care and education of children from birth through eight years throughout history. ECCE has a global scope caring for and educating young children has always been an integral part of human societies. These societal roles have evolved over time and has remain varied across culture, often reflecting family and community structures as well as the social and economic role of women and men(Andrew,1961).  Child development starts from pregnancy through the provision of balanced diet for the mother, because children develop in a sequential order and not always at the same pace. Providing guidance to children is the best way to give them a firm foundation in choosing acceptable ways to solve problem and get along with others. Therefore, to manage problem behaviors, it is better to prevent them before they even start. The parents (first contact person) and teachers are very key in actualizing the vision of rapid growth of children. The more an early child educator of a child in a school understands early development, the better that educator will be equipped to respond to the growing needs of young children. By knowing and understanding development, plans can be made to target leaving in the sight zone where the child is ready for the next step. When educator knows how children learn, they will be able to plan for appropriate development opportunities for exploitation and meaningful learning ( UNESCO, 2010). The most disturbing and damaging efforts too often by some adults is what they try to make a child conform to and behave unduly by asserting fear in them. This is against the ethics of providing guidance. In addition, the children are threatened with hash words or physical force, they do not learn to make good choices     because the brains are under toxic stress which is proven most often to harm the developing brains (Arnold, 1972)

The minimum standards talks about stimulation which means the provision of activities, actions and materials that challenge the child‟s response, activate the child‟s curiosity, encourage problem solving ability and help to link to others emotionally. It involves making use of all the senses such as hearing, smelling, felling, touching and tasting. We should also note that when there are guidance strategies in place, children will make mistakes in their behavior but what we are require to do is to help prepare the educators with ways to deal with challenging behaviors. Knowing the possible cause of behavior is the first step. Redirecting and supporting will be explored as tool of handling the behavioral issues. Educators are required to learn that possible guidance is much better for a developing child than any kind of negative punishment (Johnson S P, 1993)

Statement of the problem

Observations by various early child psychologists indicate that child play is the most important vehicle for learning during infancy and throughout the pre-school period. Despite this, most pre-school teachers in Atiba local government do not seem to accord the play activities the attention they deserve. The cause of this puzzling scenario is not well established but could probably be due to the lack of play materials, space and the teacher’s background factors. Among these factors the background factors may have a greater influence on how the teachers perceive child play activities and their role in child development. The way pre-school teachers perceive the role or impact of child play activities on child development is important, because it determines how they will treat the play lesson and the extent to which they will be willing to improvise the missing resources. If they perceive it to be important, they will accord it the attention it deserves but if they perceive it as unimportant then they will ignore it. Currently, there is no empirical data on how pre–schoolteachers perceive the impact of childhood play activities on child development in Atiba local government. Therefore, this study was set to investigate the relationship between pre-school teachers’ perception of the impact of early childhood play activities on child development. The problem focused on how pre school teachers background factors such as age and gender influence the way they perceive the relationship between early childhood play activities and holistic child development.

 Objective of the study

The objectives of the study are;

1. Find out the types of play and use the importance of play in the preschool.
2. Identify and understand that development of children take place in sequential order, simple to complex.
3. Discuss the roles of educators in the holistic development of pupils through play.

Research hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were formulated;

H0: there are no types of play and use the importance of play in the preschool.

H1: there are types of play and use the importance of play in the preschool.

H0: there are no roles of educators in the holistic development of pupils through play

H2: there are roles of educators in the holistic development of pupils through play

Significance of the study

The study will be very significant to students, ministry of education and the policy makers. The study will give a clear insight on the influence of play activities on the holistic development of pre school children. The study will also serve as a reference to other researcher that will embark on the related topic

Scope and limitation of the study

The scope of the study covers influence of play activities on the holistic development of pre school children. The study will be limited to nursery and primary schools in Atiba local government.

The following factors poses to be a limitation during the course of this research

Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

1.8 Definition of terms

Holistic development: Holistic Development is an approach to learning that emphasises the importance of the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of children, particularly in early childhood

Preschool: A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary school. It may be publicly or privately operated, and may be subsidized from public funds

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