FREE PLAY AND HAND WRITING SKILLS ACQUISITION AMONG NURSERY SCHOOL PUPILS IN MUTARE URBAN

Abstract

This study examine the relationship between free play and hand writing skills acquisition among nursery school pupils in Mutare Urban. To achieve this broad objective, four research questions were developed and answered while four research hypotheses were formulated and tested. Correlational research design was used to carry out this study. The population for the study consisted of all nursery 2 pupils from the area of the study. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 85 pupils from five selected nursery school. The instrument for data collection was structured questionnaire which was face validated by three experts, two from Early Childhood Development and Education (ECD) Department.  To determine the reliability of the instrument, Cronbach alpha method was used and a reliability coefficient of 0.82 was obtained. Data for the study was collected with the help of Co-researchers. Data collected was analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation to answer the research questions and to test hypotheses. Presentation and analysis of data were made by the use of tables. The result revealed that there exist a statistically significant high relationship between free play and handwriting skills acquisition among nursery school pupils in Mutare Urban Also, there exist a statistically significant high relationship between free play and handwriting skills acquisition of male and female nursery school pupils in Mutare Urban It was recommended among others that government through the Ministry of Education needs to come up with clear policy guidelines regarding play in nursery school centers and clearly define the play activities according to the developmental stages of children. The government should enhance provision of early childhood play materials to enable nursery school children develop holistically.