TEACHERS' PERCEPTION OF THE INFLUENCE OF PLAY ON PREPRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT IN OTUKPO EDUCATION ZONE BENUE STATE

📄 Project Abstract

Play is linked to many aspects of a child's life, learning to manipulate objects, learning to play social roles. Learning to solve problems, creating and helping to resolve emotional tensions. Play is universal and it is found in all cultures. This suggests that play has a functional significance. Play is a way of exploring the environment by children as they try to find out about the nature, characteristics, behavior of materials and what the situation offers them. According to Brain and Martin in Ahupa and Ushie (2008) play is a child's work and indeed the business of childhood. In the same vein, Anderson and Mc Namee (2010) refer to play as children's work. Henniger, (2005) and Fox (2008) maintained that, play is more easily described in terms of its characteristics because there is no one specific way to define play. Play is an activity oriented exercise that the child is involved in and values so much. The exercise helps a child in his early childhood development to explore the en...