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International Journal of Scientific and Education Research

Vol. 2, No. 02; 2018

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INFLUENCE OF PLAY ON DEVELOPMENT OF READING SKILLS IN

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA: FOCUS ON TYPE OF PLAY

John Mwangi

Department of Educational Communication and Technology

University of Nairobi, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Play is a physical activity which children are involved in for fun or recreation. A great deal of

learning can occur when play is used to aid learning. The purpose of this study was to examine

the influence of play on the development of pre-school children‘s reading skills in Kawangware

Zone, Nairobi County. The target population of the study involved preschool children, teachers

and head teachers from both public and private preschools. The sample size included 62

preschools, 62 teachers, 458 children and 31 head teachers. Data was collected through

questionnaires, observation guides and standardized test and analysed using Statistical Package

for Social Sciences (SPSS). From the study, it was found that types of play influence

development of pre-school children‘s reading skills to a great extent. Basing on the findings, the

study recommends provision of different types of play materials for the children in order to

develop their reading skills and that caregivers, teachers and parents provide children with

variety of materials so that they can manipulate and create their own play activities.

Keywords: Expectations, Achievements, Education, Pedagogy

INTRODUCTION

Play is a very important part of a child‘s life. Every child naturally learns to figure out what the

world around them would be and would look like through play. Follari (2015) states that play

offer the best learning experience and remain a priority in early childhood education. Children

also learn by playing with peers. Play allows children to express themselves and learn how to

work with peers. The social skills, cognitive skills, emotional maturity and self-confidence

children gain and develop through play helps them develop and experience new concepts and

activities. Through play activities, children discover a lot in their world of play, which then help

them to initiate such new concepts to build on their reading intelligence. Studies conducted by

Mwanda, Odundo and Midigo (2017) indicates that right pedagogical approaches translate to

better learner achievement.

Indeed, children learn best when they can act on the environment and construct knowledge for

themselves. Play helps children weave together all the elements of life as they experience it

(Moore, 2017). Activity time for play can provide an effective learning experience for children

and help them gain knowledge. Children learn to communicate and think during play. Through

play, they face problems and seeing different ways of doing something to solve the problem.


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Piaget explains that children learn through doing. That their natural, easy and spontaneous

expression through reading is enhanced through play activities (Schmidt, 2008).

There are many preschool children in Kenya attending both public and private schools. This is a

positive gesture in relation to child development. Despite this, very little emphasis has been put

on provision of playing space in these schools and this has caused congestion during play and the

teachers finding it difficult to provide play materials and games during the teaching of reading

activity both indoor and outdoor. Play has a special place in children‘s experience because it

gives them sense to the world (Ball, 2017). It is important to note that play and space for play is a

crucial aspect that needs to be considered in every institution offering early childhood learning.

Therefore, provision of child play materials in every learning activity including reading should

not be seen as an option but should be keenly emphasized.

Bruner (1966) argues that children acquire more knowledge when they are involved in concrete

learning through the use of concrete materials. By extension therefore, children can also not

develop good reading skills if play is not incorporated. This study was set to investigate the

influence of play on development of preschool children‘s reading skills in Kawangware Zone,

Nairobi, Kenya. The study explores how type of play and type of play materials influences

development of reading skills.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Types of Play and Development of Reading Skills

According to Pinter (2017), early childhood classrooms are a place for young children to learn,

grow, build friendships and have fun. Children can do all of these at once through play. Children

can learn about themselves, their environment, as well as academic skills, such as math, science,

reading, writing, and social cohesion as they play.

Children develop social, emotional, cognitive, physical, language and creative skills through

play and exploration (Yawkey & Pellegrini, 2018). Social interaction between children increases

during constructive play. Different types of play aid children developing different skills

including problem solving, using their imagination and creativity to learn, as well as cooperate

with others (Roskos, 2017). According to VanHoorn, Nourot, Scales and Alward (2014), the idea

of children‘s social play is an important aspect of learning in early childhood education.

According to Moore, (2017), play helps children learn about their environment and themselves.

They enhance their creativity and imagination and can even take on leadership roles. Children

learn how to get along, communicate with peers and solve problems during play activities. As a

child interacts with other children, their language skills develop and become stronger. Together

they learn to explore, cooperate, take turns and share through play.


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In a Pre-school, teachers use various types of play. Play can be categorized in many ways. One

way of categorizing plays is through their nature. Thus there are creative play, physical play,

manipulative play and imaginative play (Roskos, 2017). Creative play are those which

encourages children to experiment and explore the world around them. In creative play, children

are given a wide range of activities and are aided by their teachers to participate. Creative play is

relevant in helping children develop in all areas and at the same time gain satisfaction from the

play itself as it can actually increase their confidence and self-esteem. Experts advise that

although it supports children's creativity, it is important not to make the children worry about the

end product. Instructors should also ensure that any competition is not implied in the play. When

competitions are implied in paly a child's sense of self-worth can easily be destroyed if their

creation is not praised or is questioned in some ways. Creative play involves creative arts play

such as painting, drawing, music, dance and model making in which are the ways of expressing

ideas and feelings. They can be used to enhance learning through communication.

Physical play (locomotor play or exercise play) involves physical activity in a playful context

such as kicking, running, jumping, chasing, and climbing (Lindsey, 2014). Physical play

encourages children to use their large muscles and exercises their body in which they learn to

control their muscles and develop coordination. Tremblay, et al. (2014), provides that

encouraging children to play is key to boosting levels of physical activity and that children

receive vast health benefits from physical activity including aerobic endurance, muscle growth,

strength, coordination, growth stimulation of major organs and increased bone mineral content .

Studies show that children naturally gravitate to physical play given the chance (Nelson, 2015;

Miller, 2017).

Manipulative play on the other hand is a type of play which concentrates upon how children use

their hands. As such, the essential parts of manipulative plays include sight and touch with hand-

eye coordination. It can be applied through gross and fine manipulative play. Gross manipulative

play involves activities such as throwing a ball, climbing or kicking a ball. Fine manipulative

play is where children discover to use their fingers independently such as unscrewing a lid and

using a pencil (Wahyuni, 2015). In his study, Bullard (2016) found out that learners developed

many skills when manipulative plays are employed. Subsequently, Whitebread (2017) advises

that manipulative plays could be used as frequent as possible to develop manipulative skills for

children necessary for learning ad especially in mathematics.

Imaginative plays involves role playing. Children are allowed to act out various experiences they

may have had or something that is of some interest to them (Yawkey & Pellegrini, 2018).

Such include increases in language usage including subjunctives, future tenses, and adjectives.

This is embedded in the concept of theory of mind. The theory provides that one’s thoughts may

differ from those of other persons and that there are a variety of perspectives of which each of us

is capable, is closely related to imaginative play (Goldman, 2012). Moreover, Moyles, (2014)

provides that children are able to act out situations spontaneously by taking on the role of other

people or situations. Imaginative plays provide learners with a number of imaginative play


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activities which allows children to safely explore their own feelings and the world around them.

Yawkey and Pellegrini (2018) provides that imaginative play may include pretend play, fantasy

play, socio-dramatic play and symbolic play.

Symbolic play provides children with opportunities to explore and extend their world as well as

materials and objects are used to represent all kinds of things and people (Mason, 2017). In this

kind of play, objects, actions and functions take on responsibilities. It allows children to exercise

control and explore without the risk of being out of their depth. For instance, a piece of wood

may symbolize a person (Stolz, 2015).A socio-dramatic play involves interaction and

communication with others as children can act out stories on their own and with others. This can

actually allow them to explore the nature of the role, adapting and modifying it as a result of

interacting with others. Pretend play considers how children act out in a range of ways such as

going shopping or cooking a meal. Fantasy play is a form of role play where children produce

their own stories and challenge accepted norms and expectations which involves make-believe,

where objects and people take on new, innovative functions and roles (Mason, 2017).

Instructor involvement in learning through play can also be used to categorize play. Instructor

based typology gives structured and unstructured plays. Structured play has a set of rules with

specific objectives. Unstructured play is open ended with unlimited possibilities. Such may

include playing with blocks, colouring, drawing or painting on blank paper, deciding how to play

with a toy airplane or doll, inventing games to play and running around the playground or park

(Marsick & Watkins, 2015).

It has long been understood that play contributes to healthy physical development (Winnick &

Porretta, 2016).However, a growing body of new research clarifies the ways this occurs. Recent

investigations have identified specific skills that are enhanced through play (Bierman, Heinrichs,

Welsh, Nix & Gest, 2017). Other studies show how parents, teachers, and caregivers can enrich

play to strengthen its effect on reading skills development. Play materials include Lotto games,

picture cut-outs, letter puzzles and word puzzles.

Conceptual Framework

Figure 1 shows the relationship between the independent variables; types of play, frequency of

play, play materials, teachers support and the dependent variable; children‘s development in

reading skills.

Figure 1. Influence of Play on Children’s Development in Reading Skills


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www.ijsernet.org 8

Figure 1 shows the relationship between play and children‘s development in comprehension

reading skills. It is evident that play is important to children‘s development in reading skills.

Children may sing songs, which make them, learn how to pronounce words when reading.

Frequency of play is also essential in children development in reading skills. The more they play,

the more their reading skill develops. Play materials play a significant role on children‘s readings

skills. Play that involves repetition of words is directly linked to the development of their reading

skills. Teachers also play an essential role towards children‘s reading skills development. Their

support on how to play, behave or pronounce some words has a great influence in the

development of these skills.

METHODS

The study used ex post facto research design to examine the influence of play on children‘s

development in reading skills Kawangware Zone of Nairobi County, Kenya. The target

population for the study included 62 public and private schools, 124 teachers, 915 preschool

children and 62 head teachers. Simple random sampling procedure was employed to select 50%

of the targeted elementary schools (31 elementary schools), 50% of the targeted teachers and

children both public and private preschools (62 teachers and 458 children). Further, purposive

sampling procedure was used to arrive at a representative sample of head teachers (31head

Types of play

Songs

Poems

Dance

Drama

Play materials

Puzzles

Skittles

Picture books

PLA

Y Children’s

Development in

Reading Skills

Pupils’ Gender

Pupil’s attitude

Independent Variable

Dependent Variable

Intervening Variable


Vol. 2, No. 02; 2018



teachers). Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires, lesson observation schedules

and a standardized test. Reliability was ensured by use of a test-retest while validity was ensured

through face validity. All the necessary permits and approval were sought and obtained from the

relevant bodies. All data collected were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social

Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 save for qualitative data which were analyzed thematically.

FINDINGS

Demographic Information

Teachers

Demographic information of the teachers recorded include age, gender and academic

qualifications. This was as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Teacher’s demographic information

Variable Percentage

Gender

Male 36.3

Female 63.7

Age

25-34 Years 73.2

35-44 Years 18.6

45 and above years 8.2

Qualifications

Untrained 18.8

P1 26.6

Diploma 36.2

Graduate 17.2

As shown in table 1, majority of the teachers, 64% were female teachers. Male teachers

constituted 36% of the teachers sampled. Most of the teachers, 73%, were aged between 25-34

years. Only 18%, were of the age 35-44 while those aged 45 years and above constituted 9% of

the teacher’s population. Further, the study revealed that slightly more than a quarter of the

teachers (27%), had primary 1 (P1) levels of qualifications, 37% had diploma levels of

qualification, 18% had undergraduate degree while only 18% were untrained.

Head Teachers

Teacher’s demographic information were categorized into gender, age bracket and professional

qualification. Table 2 shows the distribution of the demographic information of the head

teachers.

Table 2: Demographic Information of the Head teachers


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Variables Frequency Percentage

Gender

Male 8 31.6

Female 23 68.4

Age

31-35 yrs. 23 68.4

36-40 yrs. 4 17.2

41-45 yrs. 4 17.2

Academic Qualifications

Diploma 23 68.4

Degree 8 31.6

Table 2 indicates that majority of the head teachers, 68.4% were female. Slightly less than a third

of them, 31.6% were male. Similarly, most of the head teachers, 23 were aged between 31-35

years. Only 17.2% were aged between 36-40 years 41-45 years for both. Regarding the

professional qualification, majority 68.4% had diploma levels of education and only 31.6% with

bachelor’s degrees.

Types of Play and Reading Skills Development

The study sought to examine the relationship between the types of play and children‘s

performance in reading from both public and private pre-schools. The study used standardized

test on comprehension to examine children‘s performance in reading. Data on types of play

offered to preschool children and their performance is presented in Table 3below.

Table 3: Types of Play offered to the Preschool Children

Play Category

Public Pre-schools Scores Private Pre-schools Scores

Teachers Children’s

Scores

Teachers Children’s

Scores F % F % F % F %

Free Play 23 68 101 51.8 20

59 34 6.1

Directed Play 2 9 34 6.1 9 27 98 53.7

Both Free &

Directed Play

6 23 94 42.1 2 9 97 40.2

Table 3 shows that majority of teachers (43) both from public and private preschools indicated

that they used free play when teaching, 11 teachers indicated that they used directed play, while

8 teachers indicated that they used both free and directed play. Children from public preschools

where most teachers used free play had a mean score of 51.8% while children from private

preschools had a mean score of 6.1%. Children from public preschools where teachers used


Vol. 2, No. 02; 2018



direct play had a mean score of 6.1% while children from private preschools had a mean score of

53.7 %.

Children from public preschools where teachers used direct and play had a mean score of 42.1%

while children from private preschools had a mean score of 40.2 %. This shows that teachers

from both public and private pre-schools used mostly free and directed play during reading

activities. It is evident that provisions of different types of play help children develop reading

skills. This is in line with findings of a study done by Grigoryan (2012) where it was found that a

small number of pupils completed fewer passages because of time constraints or reading

difficulties as well the type of play they involved in.

Teachers were further asked to indicate whether children develop language skills when they are

engaged in play. Figure 1 shows responses on whether children develop language skills when

they are engaged in play.

Figure 1. Teachers’ response on play and development of language skills

Figure 1 reveals that majority of the teachers, 58 (91%) indicated that children develop

language skills when they are engaged in play. Only 4 (9%) indicated otherwise. This shows that

teachers were of the views that play forms one of the key elements for children‘s reading skills

development. This implies that play activities should be incorporated in any class activity to

ensure enhanced children‘s reading skills development. Ginsburg (2013) states that play is

essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional

well-being of children and youth.

The study sought to examine whether the teachers felt lack of play would have an effect on the

preschool children‘s reading skills. Table 4 shows the responses on whether the teachers felt lack

of play would have an effect on the preschool children‘s reading skills.


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Table 4: Teachers’ responses on play and preschool children’s reading skills

Frequency (F) Percentage (%) Children’s Scores (%)

Yes 58 91 73.2

No 4 9 26.8

Table 4 shows that majority of the teachers, 58(91%) indicated that lack of play would have an

effect on the preschool children‘s reading skills. It is also evident that children from the pre-

schools where the teachers indicated that lack of play would have an effect on performance had

the highest mean score (73.2%). Four (9%) of the teachers indicated that lack of play would not

affect children‘s reading skills. Children from these preschools had a lower mean score (26.8%).

Majority of the teachers argued that play is an important catalyst to children‘s development not

only in reading skills but in physical and mental development. This implies that, lack of play

may negatively influence children‘s performance. VanHoorn, Nourot, Scales and Alward (2014)

found that the idea of children‘s social play is an important aspect of learning in early childhood

education. Through both solitary play and social play children develop self-control, problem

solving strategies, language fluency in communication and cooperation, as well as an

understanding of symbolic representation and social behaviour.

Availability of play materials and Children’s Reading Skills Development

The study sought to examine the availability of play materials for preschool children that can be

used during reading activities. Table 5 shows the responses on the availability of play materials

to the preschool children that can be used during reading activities for both private and public

schools.

Table 5: Availability of Play Materials and Children’s Reading Skills

Category of school

Availability

Private Public

% Mean scores % Mean Scores

Few 9 4.4 9 4.4

Enough 23 43.1 27 33.1

More than enough 68 52.5 59 62.5

Table 5 shows that majority of the teachers, 20(68%) indicated that there were more than enough

play materials for the private pre-school children which resulted to a higher mean score of

(52.5%) while only 2(9%) indicated that there were few play materials leading to low mean

scores of (4.4%). On the other hand, majority of the teachers, 23(59%) indicated that there were

more than enough play materials in public pre-schools which resulted in higher mean scores of


Vol. 2, No. 02; 2018



(62.5%). Two (9%) teachers from public preschools indicated that there were few play materials

and the mean score of the children was 4.4%. This implies that, availability of play materials

influences children‘s reading skills. Moore (2017) stated that availability of play materials and its

greater variety of choices made it easier for children to play independently, hence improving

their reading skills.

When asked to indicate if they provided play materials for use in reading skills, all head teachers,

31 (100%) agreed that they provided the materials. However, one of the public pre-school head

teachers explained that they could not provide all play materials necessary for the children

because most of them were expensive and the school could not afford to purchase them. This

shows that most public preschools did not have enough play materials to improve their children‘s

reading skills.

Conclusions

As educators, it is the teachers’ role to provide children with opportunities to play with toys

where they need to use their imaginations. A child learns best through their own interests and

exploration of those interests. Children need physical images of objects for them to be

completely tuned into the activity. Besides, recent studies in constructivism indicate enhanced

learner achievements when right pedagogical approaches are applied (Mwanda, Odundo, Midigo

& Mwanda, 2016).

In order for children to be entirely engaged in learning, they need some kinesthetic movement as

well. From birth, children can benefit in many ways from movement. Most of the preschools

lack ample playing ground which is enough for the preschool children. At the same time, a lot of

emphasis is being placed on academic reading work as opposed to having well-spaced play

activities to emphasis of what the children were reading. Therefore, lack of play affect children‘s

reading skills.

Play materials are seen as expensive for the preschools. The implication would be that not all the

play materials would be provided by the schools for the preschool children. At the same time,

play materials appear to more than enough to support reading skills activities. The teachers

provided mostly picture cut-outs, letter puzzles, word puzzles, creative activities, songs poems &

stories, and physical games to build children‘s skills on reading.

Recommendations

Recommendations are made for provision of materials that cater for both indoor and outdoor

activities by the government of Kenya through its Ministry of Education, Science and

Technology. Further, policy makers need to provide guidelines regarding support and review

plays so as to engage with the children in the play activities with a view a view of promoting

their reading skills. It is also important that children experience a variety of types of play to

support their learning and reading skills development across the four themes of Well-being,

Identity and Belonging, Communicating, and Exploring and Thinking. Finally, future studies


Vol. 2, No. 02; 2018



could explore the role of play in promoting reading skills using a wider sample size and different

variables not discussed in this study including among others, education program and curriculum

design, social context, teacher education, and public investment on education, so as to ascertain

further how play significantly affects reading skills of the pre-school children in Kenya as whole.

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