Ejekwu, Princewill Okechukwu
Early Childhood, and Primary Education Department, Faculty of Education,
Ignatius Ajuru
University of Education, Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Nigeria.
Abstract.
The study examined the relationship between play type and the development of writing skills of preschool children in public Early Childhood Centers in Rivers East Senatorial District of Rivers State. Two purposes and two hypotheses guided the study. The study employed a correlational research design. The population of the study was 10,965 preschoolers and caregivers, out of which 1095 were sampled using simple random sampling technique. The researcher-designed questionnaire and observation inventory were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. The findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between manipulative play and the development of writing skills of preschool children in public early childhood centers in Rivers East Senatorial District of Rivers State; there is a significant relationship between creative play and the development of writing skills of preschool children in public early childhood centers in Rivers East Senatorial District of Rivers State. Based on the findings of the study, conclusions and recommendations were made which include that the government through the Ministry of Education needs to effectively enforce the policy guidelines regarding play in preschool centers so as to ensure that caregivers are deploying various forms of play in the early childhood education classrooms.
Keywords: Play, writing skills, manipulative play, creative play, preschoolers.
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