Implementing Play in Early Childhood and Educational Centers

A qualitative survey was conducted in Kawino North location in Kadibo division Kisumu East district with the aim of assessing the role of teachers in implementing play in ECDE center. The objectives that guided the study were to assess the teachers' knowledge and understanding of play, their role in organizing play, how they facilitate play and to find out how and why teachers should get involved in play. The population studied included 24 Teachers from the six ECDE centers which had been randomly selected. The instrumentation employed entailed a critical observation of the learning environment and the formulation of detailed questionnaire for teachers. Findings showed that over half of the teachers lacked relevant knowledge and skills and could therefore not organize play, get involved in children's play as advised by child educationist, and were also unable to facilitate play. It was recommended that these teachers go for more training and that government expenditure should be increased a little bit more in establishing more structures to create more space for children to play and to enrich the ECE teacher training curriculum.